(1) Existing law establishes the Health Care Affordability Reserve Fund and authorizes the Controller to use funds in the Health Care Affordability Reserve Fund for cashflow loans to the General Fund. Existing law authorizes a loan from the Health Care Affordability Reserve Fund to the General Fund and requires the loan to be repaid in the 2025–26 fiscal year.
This bill would delay repayment of the loan and require 3 payments of $200,000,000 over 3 fiscal years beginning with the 2026–27 fiscal year.
(2) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities, clinics, home health agencies, and hospice agencies, as defined, by the State Department of Public Health. A violation of these provisions by a licensee is a crime. Existing law prescribes the method for determining licensing and certification fees and requires the department to annually post on its internet website a list of the estimated department fees for the facilities that it licenses.
This bill would require the posted fees to include, but not be limited to, annual licensing, report of change application, and written notification fees, and would make conforming changes to reflect the inclusion of fees other than annual fees. The bill would establish late payment penalties for delinquent fees, as specified. The bill would revise existing licensing provisions for those facilities, to replace references to the department and its Licensing and Certification Division with references to the Licensing and Certification Program (program) . The bill would delete various obsolete provisions, including a related fee schedule, and would replace references to renewal fees with references to an annual license fee.
(3) Existing law requires any person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation desiring a license for clinics, home health agencies, and hospice agencies to submit an application containing specified information to the department.
This bill would require the application information to be provided to the program upon initial application for licensure. The bill would require any change in the information that requires the licensee to submit a report of change or written notification to the program to be provided within 10 business days of the change along with any applicable fee, unless otherwise specified.
Because a violation of the bill's requirements by those facilities would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(4) Existing law establishes the Office of Oral Health within the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires the department to maintain a dental program in order to, among other things, develop comprehensive dental health plans to maximize utilization of all resources. Existing law, the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act, creates a state medical contract program with specified educational entities and programs to maximize the delivery of primary care to specific areas of California where there is a recognized unmet priority need for those services.
This bill would, until June 30, 2029, require the Office of Oral Health to support the establishment of community-based clinical education rotations for dental students in their final year or dental residents. The bill would require the office to compile data and prepare a report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2027, on specified desired outcomes.
(5) Existing law, the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016, an initiative measure approved as Proposition 56 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, increases taxes imposed on distributors of cigarettes and tobacco products and requires all revenues to be deposited into the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016 Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. That act allocates those revenues for specified purposes, including $30,000,000 to provide funding to the State Department of Public Health state dental program, as specified. Under existing law, if there is a reduction in revenues resulting from a reduction in the consumption of cigarettes and tobacco products due to the additional taxes imposed on cigarettes, the amount of funds allocated to specified programs, including the state dental program, is required to be reduced proportionally. If the allocations to the state dental program are reduced, existing law backfills the reduced amount by continuously appropriating moneys from the General Fund in an amount equivalent to the reduction, so that the total funding for the state dental program remains at $30,000,000 annually.
This bill would repeal the continuous appropriation to the state dental program that occurs upon a reduction of allocated funds to the program.
(6) Existing law establishes within the State Treasury the Litigation Deposits Fund (LDF) , under the control of the Department of Justice and consisting of moneys received as litigation deposits for which the state is a party to the litigation. The state is a party to a settlement related to electronic cigarettes through which it receives funds for nicotine use remediation.
This bill would establish the Electronic Cigarette Settlements Fund within the State Treasury and would require the State Department of Public Health to administer the fund. The bill would require the Controller, upon order of the Department of Finance, to transfer funds received in the LDF payable to the Department of Justice from the People of the State of California v. JUUL Labs, Inc., et al. settlement that are allocated to e-cigarette programs to the fund. The bill would require moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be used for activities in accordance with the terms of the settlement and specified department notices. The bill would specify that these provisions would remain operative only until July 1, 2035.
(7) Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to examine the causes of communicable diseases occurring or likely to occur in the state, and to establish a list of reportable diseases. Existing law requires local health officers to immediately report to the department every discovered or known case or suspected case of those reportable diseases and, in the case of a local epidemic, to report, as requested by the department, all facts concerning the disease, and the measures taken to abate and prevent its spread.
This bill would authorize the department to develop and administer a syndromic surveillance program and, subject to an appropriation, to either designate an existing system or to create a new system that would be required, at a minimum, to provide public health practitioners access to an electronic health system to rapidly collect, evaluate, share, and store syndromic surveillance data, as specified. The bill would require general acute care hospitals with emergency departments to submit specified data electronically to the system in accordance with the schedule, standards, and requirements established by the department, unless the hospital reports its data to the local health department and the local health department reports that data to the department, as specified. The bill would authorize the sharing of collected data with specified entities, including the federal Centers for Disease Control, state and local government entities, and persons with a valid scientific interest, as specified, subject to specified confidentiality requirements.
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.
(8) Existing law prohibits a person from being tried or adjudged to punishment while that person is mentally incompetent. Existing law establishes a process by which, if the mental competency of a defendant is in doubt, the defendant's mental competency is evaluated and, if found to be mentally incompetent, the defendant may be committed to the State Department of State Hospitals (DSH) with the goal of returning the defendant to competency, as specified.
This bill would require DSH to coordinate with the sheriff in the county of commitment to transport a defendant who has been committed to a DSH facility once a placement in the facility is available and would require DSH to notify the sheriff and the court if the defendant has not been transported within 90 days from the date of commitment, as specified. The bill would, if the sheriff fails to deliver the defendant within the required period of time, stay the commitment and remove the defendant from the waiting list until notice is provided that the defendant is available for transportation.
(9) Under existing law, if a defendant is committed to a DSH facility, the court must provide specified documents to DSH, including the defendant's medical records, before the defendant is admitted to the facility.
This bill would also, if DSH determines that additional medical or mental health records are required for continuity of care, require any public or private entity holding such records to release the records to DSH upon request, as specified.
(10) Existing law requires DSH, upon a determination that the defendant has regained mental competence, to immediately certify that fact to the court by filing a certificate of restoration with the court. Existing law requires the sheriff to deliver the defendant to the court no later than 10 days following the filing of a certificate of restoration. Existing law provides that the state shall only pay for 10 hospital days following filing of the certificate
This bill would clarify that the state will only pay for 10 calendar days in which the defendant remains confined in a DSH facility following the filing of the certificate.
(11) Under existing law, if a defendant is issued a certificate of restoration or becomes mentally competent after conservatorship, but is not released either on bail or a promise to appear, the defendant may, as specified, be returned to a facility for continued treatment.
This bill would clarify that the defendant may be returned only on the recommendation of the person that issued the certificate of restoration and that the defendant shall be returned to a DSH facility at the discretion of, and as directed by, DSH. The bill would also require the recommendation to include a recommendation regarding the involuntary administration of medication and requires the court to review the recommendation, and, as appropriate, issue or continue an order for the involuntary administration of medication, as specified.
(12) Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue an identification card to an eligible applicant, as specified. Existing law provides a procedure for a person being released from the custody of a county jail, federal correctional facility, or state hospital facility to obtain a replacement identification card. Existing law also provides a procedure for a person being released from a state correctional facility to obtain an original or replacement identification card.
This bill would provide a procedure for a patient being released from a state hospital facility to also obtain an original identification card. The bill would remove the requirement that an applicant for a replacement identification card have no outstanding identification card fees and would remove the requirement that an applicant for a replacement identification card have a usable photo on file with the DMV if the applicant has a new photo taken. The bill would require the State Department of State Hospitals to assist the applicant in applying for an identification card, as specified, including assistance with obtaining qualifying documentation.
(13) Existing law establishes 5 separate minimum wage schedules for covered health care employees, as defined, depending on the nature of the employer, and makes a violation of these minimum wage requirements a misdemeanor.
Existing law requires, for any covered health care facility employer, as defined, with 10,000 or more full-time equivalent employees (FTEE) , as defined, any covered health care facility employer that is a part of an integrated health care delivery system or a health care system with 10,000 or more FTEEs, a covered health care facility employer that is a dialysis clinic or is a person that owns, controls, or operates a dialysis clinic, or a covered health facility owned, affiliated, or operated by a county with a population of more than 5,000,000 as of January 1, 2023, the minimum wage for covered health care employees to be $23 per hour from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, inclusive, $24 per hour from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, inclusive, and $25 per hour from July 1, 2026, and until as adjusted, as specified.
Existing law requires, for any hospital that is a hospital with a high governmental payor mix, an independent hospital with an elevated governmental payor mix, a rural independent covered health care facility, or a covered health care facility that is owned, affiliated, or operated by a county with a population of less than 250,000 as of January 1, 2023, as those terms are defined, the minimum wage for covered health care employees to be $18 per hour from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2033, inclusive, and $25 per hour from July 1, 2033, and until as adjusted, as specified.
Existing law requires, for specified clinics that meet certain requirements, the minimum wage for covered health care employees to be $21 per hour from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026, inclusive, and $22 per hour from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, inclusive, and $25 from July 1, 2027, and until as adjusted, as specified.
Existing law requires, for all other covered health care facility employers, the minimum wage for covered health care employees to be $21 per hour from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026, inclusive, $23 per hour from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2028, inclusive, and $25 per hour from July 1, 2028, and until as adjusted, as specified.
Existing law also separately requires, for a licensed skilled nursing facility, as described, in specified circumstances the minimum wage for certain other covered health care employees, as described, to be $21 per hour from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026, inclusive, $23 per hour from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2028, inclusive, and $25 per hour from July 1, 2028, and until as adjusted, as specified.
This bill would provide for a delay of the implementation dates of the above-described minimum wage increases until either of 2 events occur, as specified.
(14) Existing law defines various terms for purposes of these provisions relating to minimum wage schedules for covered health care employees, including a covered health care employee, covered health care facility, and full-time equivalent employee. Existing law excludes certain characteristics from the definition of a covered health care employee, including any work performed in the public sector where the primary duties performed are not health care services. Existing law excludes certain entities from the definition of a covered health facility, including a skilled nursing facility owned, controlled, or operated by the state. Existing law defines a full-time equivalent employee as the total paid hours at a covered health care facility, as specified, as per Department of Health Care Access and Information guidance, divided by 2,080.
This bill would, instead, exclude from the definition of a covered health care employee any work performed by a public employee where the public employee is not primarily engaged in services, as described, performed for a covered health care facility. For purposes of the definition of a covered health care facility, the bill would, instead, delete the exclusion of a skilled nursing facility owned, controlled, or operated by the State Department of State Hospitals from that definition, and would additionally exclude from that definition any health care facility, as described, that is owned, controlled, or operated by the state or any state agency, as defined, of the executive branch. The bill would define full-time equivalent employee as the total hours paid at a covered health care facility, as specified, divided by 2,080 and would specify the determination of the number of full-time equivalent employees.
(15) Existing law requires a health care minimum wage to be enforceable by, among other things, the Labor Commissioner.
This bill would require a health care minimum wage to be enforceable by the Labor Commissioner through specified procedures. The bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations to amend, supplement, and republish the Industrial Welfare Commission's wage orders to be consistent with these minimum wage provisions, as specified. The bill would require every employer subject to these provisions to post a copy of the order as amended, supplemented, and republished by the Department of Industrial Relations, as specified, and to provide to each employee on the effective date of the earliest minimum wage increase a written notice, as provided.
For covered health care employment where the compensation of the employee is on a salary basis, existing law requires the employee to earn a monthly salary equivalent to no less than 150 percent of the health care worker minimum wage or 200 percent of the minimum wage, as described, for full-time employment in order to qualify as exempt from the payment of minimum wage and overtime under state law, including where the employer is the state, a political subdivision of the state, the University of California, or a municipality.
This bill would instead qualify an employee as exempt from the payment of minimum wage and overtime, as described above, if the employer is a political subdivision of the state, a health care district, the University of California, or a municipality.
(16) Existing law requires the Department of Health Care Access and Information to publish on their internet website a list of all covered health care facility employers, as specified, and a list of all hospitals that qualify as a hospital with a high governmental payor mix, independent hospital with an elevated governmental payor mix, or a rural independent covered health care facility. If a covered health care facility believes that they were inappropriately excluded from the list of hospitals that qualify as a hospital with a high governmental payor mix, independent hospital with an elevated governmental payor mix, or a rural independent covered health care facility, existing law authorizes the health facility to file a request with the Department of Health Care Access and Information to be classified as a hospital with a high governmental payor mix, independent hospital with an elevated governmental payor mix, or a rural independent covered health care facility. Existing law requires the requesting hospital to provide, among other things, the payor mix of the requesting hospital, as specified.
This bill would require the lists described above to only include those covered health care facility employers included in the Department of Health Care Access and Information's 2021 Pivot Table, as described. The bill would require the requesting hospital to provide, among other things, the revised Annual Disclosure Report, as provided, that reflects the payor mix of the requesting hospital, as specified.
(17) Existing law requires the Department of Industrial Relations, in c