Existing law requires the Franchise Tax Board, on or before March 1, 2022, and annually on or before March 1 thereafter, to report certain information to the Legislature regarding health coverage penalties paid by households, in addition to related information. This bill would change the annual reporting deadline to April 1, as provided.

Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson
Sponsored bills
This measure would call on Congress to enact legislation that restores and strengthens the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and it would call on the President to sign the legislation.
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 requires, on and after January 1, 2023, a student health center on a California State University or University of California campus to offer abortion by medication techniques, as specified. Existing law establishes the College Student Health Center Sexual and Reproductive Health Preparation Fund to be administered by the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and continuously appropriates the moneys in that fund to the commission for specified activities related to providing abortion by medication techniques at student health centers. This bill would require a student health center on a California State University or University of California campus, on or before January 1, 2028, to promote awareness of the services for abortion by medication techniques that the student health center offers, provide information on those services to students, and post the availability of those services on its internet website. This bill would require a community college that has a student health center, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to, on and after January 1, 2029, offer access to abortion by medication techniques, promote awareness of those services, provide information on those services to students, and post the availability of those services on its internet website. The bill would require the commission to submit a report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2030, that includes, but is not limited to, specified information relating to abortion by medication techniques at or through community college student health centers. The bill would require the commission, in consultation with the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, to develop a standardized reporting framework that minimizes administrative burden and protects student privacy. The bill would authorize funds appropriated for these provisions to be used for implementation readiness activities and ongoing operational costs, as specified.
(1) Existing law authorizes certain entities to operate household hazardous waste collection facilities, as defined, including permanent and temporary household hazardous waste collection facilities, under permits issued by the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Existing law requires hazardous waste transported to a household hazardous waste collection facility to be transported by specified entities, and imposes conditions on the acceptance of hazardous waste by a household hazardous waste collection facility, including, among others, that the hazardous waste not exceed certain weight requirements. Existing law requires a person engaged in the transportation of hazardous waste to be registered with the department and to have a manifest while transporting the hazardous waste, except if the transport is from specified facilities or programs. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws is a crime. This bill would require, until January 1, 2030, the department to evaluate opportunities to increase safety and convenience related to the management and disposal of vape pens confiscated from students by a school, as provided, and identify any recommendations that require future legislative action. The bill would authorize a permanent household hazardous waste collection facility to mechanically disassemble vape pens and devices in a manner that does not result in the unauthorized release of hazardous materials, as specified. The bill would exempt from the above-described registration and manifest provisions a school transporting vape pens and devices confiscated from students. The bill would also impose the above-described conditions relating to the transport of hazardous waste on a public agency, contractor of a public agency, or a registered hazardous waste transporter, transporting vape pens and devices from schools, as provided. The bill would require any vape pens and devices to be transported in containers bearing the school's Environmental Protection Agency identification number. The bill would specify conditions that apply for purposes of determining how many vape pens and devices may be accepted by a household hazardous waste collection facility without exceeding the specified weight limits. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires all cartridges for electronic cigarettes and solutions for filling or refilling an electronic cigarette to be in child-resistant packaging. This bill would prohibit a person from marketing, promoting, labeling, branding, advertising, distributing, offering for sale, or selling a vape product in this state by (A) imitating a product that is not a vape product to conceal the nature of the vape product from parents, teachers, or other adults, or (B) including interactive videogame capabilities within a vape product, as provided. This bill would authorize a city, a county, a city and county, or the state to enforce the above-described prohibitions and to impose civil liability on a person or entity, or distributor, in violation of the prohibitions in specified fine amounts, including $1,000 for the first violation, or for a distributor, $50,000 per violation. The bill would require any civil penalties collected to be paid to whichever office brought the action, and would authorize the Attorney General to expend any penalties it collects, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to enforce the prohibitions. The bill would specify that any remedies provided pursuant to these provisions are not exclusive and are in addition to the remedies that may be available pursuant to specified provisions relating to unfair competition. The bill would make any person who violates the prohibitions guilty of an infraction punishable by a fine of not more than $500. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law, the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003, provides for the licensure and regulation of manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers, and retailers of cigarette or tobacco products. Existing law, except as specified, prohibits a tobacco retailer, or any of the tobacco retailer's agents or employees, from selling, offering for sale, or possessing with the intent to sell or offer for sale, a flavored tobacco product or a tobacco product flavor enhancer. Existing law authorizes the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration or a law enforcement agency, upon discovery that a retailer possesses, stores, owns, or has made a retail sale of flavored tobacco products or tobacco product flavor enhancers in violation of that prohibition to seize the flavored tobacco products or tobacco product flavor enhancers at the retail location or any other person's location. Existing law deems those seized flavored tobacco products or tobacco product flavor enhancers as forfeited to the state, and requires the department to issue a civil penalty against the retailer, as provided. Existing law also requires the department to suspend or revoke the license of a retailer upon a 2nd or 3rd seizure and forfeiture, as provided. This bill would apply those same seizure, forfeiture, and civil penalty provisions to a retailer who possesses, stores, owns, or has made a retail sale of vape products, as defined, in violation of the prohibitions related to a vape product described in paragraph (2) , above. Existing law authorizes a peace officer or department employee granted limited peace officer status, as provided, upon presenting appropriate credentials, to enter any place at which cigarettes or tobacco products are sold, produced, or stored or at any site where evidence of a violation of specified laws relating to cigarette or tobacco products may be discovered, and to conduct inspections in accordance with specified requirements. This bill would also authorize those inspections at any place where there is evidence of a violation of the prohibitions related to a vape product described in paragraph (2) , above. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 22974.2 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by AB 762 to be operative only if this bill and AB 762 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) 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 each law enforcement agency, on or before January 1, 2021, to maintain a policy that provides a minimum standard on the use of force. Existing law requires that the policy include, among other things, training standards and requirements relating to demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the law enforcement agency's use of force policy by officers, investigators, and supervisors. Existing law prohibits a law enforcement agency from authorizing the use of a carotid restraint or choke hold by any peace officer employed by that agency. This bill would, until January 1, 2030, prohibit a law enforcement agency, including a federal law enforcement agency, from using a wearable electroshock device within the State of California. The bill would also prohibit a law enforcement agency from using state funds to purchase a wearable electroshock device. The bill would require a law enforcement agency to update their use of force policies to prohibit the use of a wearable electroshock device. By increasing the duties on local law enforcement, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Division of Law Enforcement within the Department of Justice to conduct a study on the safety and community impacts of wearable electroshock devices and provide recommendations for appropriate standards and safeguards for their use, and would require the department to report to the Legislature on the findings and recommendations of the study on or before January 1, 2029. 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
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 prohibits specified health care service plan contracts and disability insurance policies from excluding persons covered by the plan from receiving benefits if they are diagnosed as having any significant destruction of brain tissue with resultant loss of brain function, including Alzheimer's disease. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy that is issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027, to include coverage for all medically necessary treatments or medications, as determined by a health care provider, approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease or other medical conditions affecting memory. On and after January 1, 2027, the bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from imposing step therapy protocols as a prerequisite to authorizing that coverage, except as provided. Because a willful violation of these provisions 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, the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act, prohibits an operator of an addictive internet-based service or application from providing an addictive feed, as defined, to a user unless the operator does not have actual knowledge that the user is a minor, as specified, or the operator has obtained verifiable parental consent to provide an addictive feed to the user who is a minor. Existing law, the Digital Age Assurance Act, beginning January 1, 2027, requires a person who owns, maintains, or controls a software application, as defined, to request age bracket data sent by a real-time secure application programming interface or operating system with respect to a particular user from an operating system provider or a covered application store when the application is downloaded and launched. This bill would prohibit a covered platform, as defined, from providing an addictive feature, as defined, to a user who is under 16 years of age and would require a covered platform to implement reasonable measures to ensure that users under 16 years of age are not offered or provided any addictive feature on the covered platform. The bill would also authorize the Attorney General to adopt regulations to implement and enforce the bill in order to further the purpose of protecting minors online, including by altering the scope of "covered platform" if the Attorney General determines that doing so is necessary to ensure that "covered platform" applies to internet websites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications that make addictive features, as defined, available to users under 16 years of age. This bill would impose a civil penalty upon a noncompliant platform and would require its provisions to be enforced by a civil action brought only by the Attorney General or a local public prosecutor, as specified. This bill would also establish the e-Safety Advisory Commission within the Department of Justice as an independent advisory body that is only for administrative purposes to advise state government on certain matters related to online safety and would require the commission to, on or before January 1 of each year, report to the Legislature and the Governor on, among other things, its activities under the bill.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. This bill would, for purposes of CEQA, prohibit the environmental impacts that are associated with increased building height alone from being considered significant impacts on the environment, if a project meets specified conditions, as provided. Because a lead agency would be required to determine if a project meets the specified conditions, 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, 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 violation of the act by a health care service plan a misdemeanor. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law defines "unreasonable rate increase," for these purposes, to have the same meaning as in the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is that an unreasonable rate increase exists when the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services makes a determination that a rate increase is excessive, unjustified, or unfairly discriminatory, among other things. This bill would instead define "unreasonable rate increase," for the above-described purposes, to mean a rate increase that the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care or the Insurance Commissioner, as applicable, determines is excessive, unjustified, unfairly discriminatory, or otherwise unreasonable. Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer to submit rates to their regulating entity for review and to demonstrate the impact of any changes in the rate of growth of health care costs resulting from health care cost targets. This bill would instead require a health care service plan or health insurer to demonstrate the impact of health care cost targets and to demonstrate whether a health care service plan's or health insurer's annual rate growth exceeds or will exceed the cost target for the rating period. The bill would require, if a health care service plan's or health insurer's rate growth is expected to exceed the cost target for a rating period, the health care service plan or health insurer to include specified information in its rate filing, including, among other things, a detailed list of any proactive steps it is taking, or plans to take, for annual rate growth to meet the cost targets. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the director or the commissioner, as applicable, in determining if a rate is unreasonable or not justified for purposes of the above-described review, to consider the impact on changes in health care costs as a result of the health care cost targets described above. This bill would delete those provisions and instead require the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to report on if rates, by plan or policy and in aggregate, meet the affordability standard, as defined, for an individual, a couple, and a family of four. The bill would require the report to include the annual change in premiums and cost sharing for the prior 5 years. The bill would, as part of the existing rate submission process, require a health care service plan or health insurer to provide information on premiums, deductibles, cost sharing, and any other factors specified by the department as necessary to complete the reports. 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 Governor to proclaim various days as days of remembrance or recognition. This bill would require the Governor to annually proclaim September 25 as Dolly Parton Day. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.