Sen. Robert M. Hertzberg

This measure would designate a specified portion of State Highway Route 44, near Oak Run in the County of Shasta, as the Stan Statham Memorial Highway. This measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Existing law establishes the California Environmental Protection Agency under the supervision of the Secretary for Environmental Protection, and vests the agency with authority over various environmental matters. Existing law requires the agency to address heat and heat reduction by, among other things, identifying the extent and severity of the urban heat island effect for cities to set quantifiable goals for heat reduction. Existing law establishes the Office of Planning and Research in state government in the Governor's office. Existing law establishes the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program (ICARP) to be administered by the office to coordinate regional and local efforts with state climate adaptation strategies to adapt to the impacts of climate change, as prescribed. Existing law creates the Department of Insurance, headed by the Insurance Commissioner, and prescribes the commissioner's powers and duties. Existing law requires the commissioner to convene a working group to identify, assess, and recommend risk transfer market mechanisms that, among other things, promote investment in natural infrastructure to reduce the risks of climate change related to catastrophic events. This bill would require the agency, by January 1, 2025, to develop a statewide extreme heat ranking system in coordination with the ICARP, the State Department of Public Health, and the Department of Insurance, as provided. The bill would also require the Department of Insurance, by July 1, 2024, to transmit a study of, among other things, past extreme heat events and the effectiveness of insurance coverages, as specified, to prevent losses or help communities plan public health initiatives related to combating the effects of extreme heat, insurance options that will support specified adaptation, preparedness, and resilience measures, and recommendations for overcoming barriers encountered by local governments that are trying to use insurance or other financing tools to fund or support heat risk mitigation or adaptation strategies to the agency, the ICARP, and certain legislative policy committees, and to post the study on its internet website. The bill would require the agency, in coordination with the ICARP, the State Department of Public Health, and the Department of Insurance, to periodically review and update the extreme heat ranking system, as appropriate. The bill would require the ICARP to develop a public communication plan for the statewide extreme heat ranking system, recommend partnerships with local health departments and local and tribal governments, and develop statewide guidance for local and tribal governments in the preparation and planning for extreme heat events, and review the heat ranking system, as specified. The bill would also make findings and declarations related to extreme heat.

Existing law establishes the State Supplementary Program for the Aged, Blind and Disabled (SSP) , which requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to make payments to SSP recipients to supplement Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments made available pursuant to the federal Social Security Act. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to submit, by January 1, 2024, a report to the Legislature that includes recommendations on the administration of the program.

(1) The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has exclusive jurisdiction over the transmission of electricity in interstate commerce, over the sale of electricity at wholesale in interstate commerce, and over all facilities for the transmission or sale of electricity in interstate commerce. Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the PUC to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, including electrical corporations, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources so that the total kilowatthours of those products sold to their retail end-use customers achieves 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, 33% by December 31, 2020, 44% by December 31, 2024, 52% by December 31, 2027, and 60% by December 31, 2030. Existing law requires an electrical corporation that owns electrical transmission facilities to annually prepare, as part of a specified FERC process, a report identifying any electrical transmission facility, upgrade, or enhancement that is reasonably necessary to achieve the procurement requirements of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program and to submit that report to the PUC. This bill would require each electrical corporation that owns electrical transmission facilities to annually prepare, and submit to the PUC, concurrently with each electrical corporation's annual renewable energy procurement plan, a report on any changes to previously reported in-service dates of transmission and interconnection facilities necessary to provide transmission deliverability to eligible renewable energy resources or energy storage resources that have executed interconnection agreements, and to identify the reason for any changes to the status of in-service dates. (2) Existing law requires the PUC to annually report specified information to the Legislature in order to evaluate the progress of the state's electrical corporations in complying with the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. This bill would require that annual report to also include a systemwide assessment of delays to interconnection or transmission approvals for eligible renewable energy resources or energy storage resources, based on those annual reports. (3) Existing law requires the PUC to adopt a process for each electrical corporation, electric service provider, or community choice aggregator to file an integrated resource plan and a schedule for periodic updates to the plan, and to ensure that those entities take specified actions, including meeting certain greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and procuring at least 60% eligible renewable energy resources by December 31, 2030, as specified. For those purposes, existing law requires the PUC to consider the role of existing renewable generation, grid operational efficiencies, energy storage, and distributed energy resources in helping to ensure those entities meet energy and reliability needs during peak demand, while reducing the need for new electricity generation resources and new transmission resources in achieving the state's energy goals at the least cost to ratepayers. This bill would additionally require the PUC, for those purposes, to also consider the role of transmission. (4) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any 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 a violation of a PUC action implementing its 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 provides for the procedure of approving and accepting bail, and issuing an order for the appearance and release of an arrested person. Existing law requires the superior court judges in each county to prepare, adopt, and annually revise a uniform countywide schedule of bail, as specified, and requires the superior court judges, when adopting that schedule, to consider the seriousness of the offense charged and assign an additional amount of required bail for each aggravating or enhancing factor chargeable in the complaint, as specified. This bill would prohibit costs relating to the conditions of release on bail from being imposed on persons released on bail or on their own recognizance. The bill would additionally require the court to order a return of money or property paid to a bail bond licensee by or on behalf of the arrestee to obtain bail if the action or proceeding against the arrestee who has been admitted to bail is dismissed or no charges are filed against the arrestee within 60 days of arrest, as specified. The bill would authorize the bail bond licensee to retain a surcharge not to exceed 10% of the amount paid by the arrestee or on behalf of the arrestee. The bill would require the court to order this return of money or property only for a bail contract entered into on or after January 1, 2023.

Existing law prohibits an employer from requiring or requesting an employee or applicant for employment to disclose a username or password for the purpose of accessing personal social media, to access personal social media in the presence of the employer, or to divulge any personal social media. Existing law also prohibits an employer from discharging, disciplining, threatening to discharge or discipline, or otherwise retaliating against an employee or applicant for not complying with a request or demand by the employer that violates these provisions. Existing law defines the term "social media" for those purposes to mean an electronic service or account, or electronic content, including, but not limited to, videos, still photographs, blogs, video blogs, podcasts, instant and text messages, email, online services or accounts, or internet website profiles or locations. This bill would revise that definition of "social media" to also mean an electronic platform and to include chat rooms and bulletin boards.

The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of, among other solid waste, plastic packaging containers and single-use foodware accessories. Existing law establishes the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, which covers certain single-use packaging and plastic single-use food service ware, as provided. As part of its comprehensive statutory scheme, existing law requires producers, as defined, of these covered materials to source reduce plastic covered material, to ensure that covered material offered for sale, distributed, or imported in or into the state on or after January 1, 2032, is recyclable or compostable, and to ensure that plastic covered material offered for sale, distributed, or imported in or into the state meets specified recycling rates, as provided. The act prohibits a producer from selling, offering for sale, importing, or distributing covered materials in the state unless the producer is approved to participate in the producer responsibility plan of a producer responsibility organization (PRO) , as prescribed, for the source reduction, collection, processing, and recycling of covered material, except as provided. The act requires the department to establish a producer responsibility advisory board for specified purposes. The act authorizes an affected entity that asserts that specific actions taken to meet the act's requirements are disrupting or otherwise adversely affecting the sustained operation or commercial viability of solid waste collection programs, solid waste recycling facilities, or composting facilities providing services in accordance with local solid waste handling requirements, to bring the concern and evidence supporting that assertion to the advisory board for discussion and to ask the advisory board to conduct a preliminary evaluation of the information. The act requires, if the evaluation demonstrates that specific actions are disrupting or otherwise adversely affecting existing operations, the advisory board to submit the concern to the department for further analysis. The act requires the department to analyze the information provided by the advisory board and authorizes the department to offer a recommendation for resolution. This bill would instead require, if the advisory board's evaluation demonstrates that specific actions are disrupting or otherwise adversely affecting existing operations, the advisory board to offer a recommendation for resolution within 90 days of submission of the request for a preliminary evaluation and thereafter authorizes either party to initiate nonbinding arbitration, as specified. The bill would require the arbiter to consider the information provided to the advisory board and any other information provided to the arbiter by the parties, and would authorize the arbiter to order actions to remedy any disrupting or adverse effect determined by the arbiter to exist. The bill would require the department to include any actions taken under these provisions to the Legislature, as specified. The bill would also make technical amendments and other revisions to the act's definitions.

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 and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, federally qualified health center (FQHC) services are covered benefits under the Medi-Cal program, to be reimbursed on a per-visit basis, as specified, to the extent that federal financial participation is obtained. Existing federal law authorizes a state plan to provide for payment in any fiscal year to an FQHC for specified services in an amount that is determined under an alternative payment methodology (APM) if it is agreed to by the state and the FQHC and results in a payment to the FQHC of an amount that is at least equal to the amount otherwise required to be paid to the FQHC. Existing state law requires the department to authorize an APM pilot project for FQHCs that agree to participate, for implementation with respect to a county for a period of up to 3 years. This bill would require the department to authorize a new supplemental payment program for FQHCs pursuant to federal law, or as specified, to be named the Enhanced Clinically Integrated Program (ECIP) . Under the bill, ECIP funding would be subject to an appropriation. The bill would require the department to request an amount, as necessary to fund, implement, and maintain ECIP at sufficient capacity, on an ongoing basis in future fiscal years. Under the bill, participation in ECIP would be optional for FQHCs, funding under ECIP would be provided in addition to all other funding received by FQHCs, as specified, and participation in ECIP would result in total payments to participating FQHCs that are greater than the prospective payment system (PPS) rate otherwise required to be paid to the FQHC. The bill would, subject to an appropriation, require the department, no later than July 1, 2023, to make funding available for the purpose of direct compensation of health center workers. The bill would require ECIP to improve quality and access to care by allocating funds, if appropriated, to FQHCs that meet certain standards relating to wage thresholds and commitment to participation in bona fide labor-management cooperation committees (LMCCs) , as specified. The bill would set forth various requirements for funding allocations to, and uses by, participating FQHCs. The bill would require the department to develop eligibility criteria, an application process, a fund distribution process, reporting requirements, and a methodology for adjusting funding allocations based on health care inflation. The bill would authorize the department to choose to implement the program as a state-only funded program, as specified. If the department seeks federal financial participation in the first year of the program, the bill would require the department to apply for federal approval no later than February 1, 2023, but would authorize seeking federal financial participation in subsequent years. If federal financial participation is sought, the department would have discretion to modify the terms of ECIP if necessary to obtain federal approval so long as the modifications further the goals of increasing FQHC workforce compensation particularly for lower-paid workers and furthering the creation of, and participation in, bona fide LMCCs for FQHC worker education and training. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions through all-county letters or similar instructions, until any necessary regulations are adopted. The bill would make these provisions severable.

The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including a credit for qualified renters in the amount of $120 for spouses filing joint returns, heads of household, and surviving spouses if adjusted gross income is $50,000, as adjusted, or less, and in the amount of $60 for other individuals if adjusted gross income is $25,000, as adjusted, or less. This bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to prepare a written report by April 1, 2023, on the number of taxpayers claiming the credit, and the average credit amount on returns claiming the credit.

Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires each state to establish an American Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health benefit plans. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) , also known as Covered California, to facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals and qualified small employers in qualified health plans as required under PPACA. Existing law requires every California resident, their spouse, and their dependents to be enrolled in and maintain minimum essential coverage for each month, except as specified, and requires the Exchange to administer a financial assistance program to help low-income and middle-income Californians access affordable health care coverage through the Exchange until January 1, 2023. Existing law requires the Franchise Tax Board to provide specified information to the Exchange regarding individuals who do not maintain minimum essential coverage, and requires the Exchange to annually conduct outreach and enrollment efforts with those individuals. Existing law requires the Franchise Tax Board (board) to disclose to the Exchange individual income tax return information, as described, for purposes of conducting this outreach and enrollment effort to those individuals. This bill would require the Exchange to annually conduct outreach and enrollment efforts to individuals who indicate on their individual income tax returns that they are interested in no-cost or low-cost health care coverage.The bill would require the board to include, on or after January 1, 2023, a checkbox for a taxpayer to indicate on their individual income tax return that they are interested in no-cost or low-cost health care coverage and authorize the board to share information from their tax return with the Exchange for purposes of conducting outreach and enrollment efforts to these taxpayers.