The Commission supported 20 bills that would implement its recommendations during the 2015-16 Legislative Session. The Commission only takes positions on legislation that would implement its recommendations. The measures that the Commission has supported during the 2015-16 Legislative Session are in the areas of bond oversight, California’s Open Meetings Act, climate change adaptation, Denti-Cal, government interactions, higher education, long-term care, the Mental Health Services Act, sentencing and underground economy. Of those 20 bills, 10 were signed into law, three were vetoed and seven failed to pass.
Bond Oversight
SB 1029 (Hertzberg) California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission: accountability reports.
Summary: Requires the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission to track and report on all state and local outstanding debt until fully repaid or redeemed. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2009 report, Bond Spending: Expanding and Enhancing Oversight.
Support Letter
Final Action: Signed by the Governor.
California’s Open Meetings Act
SB 215 (Leno) Public Utilities Commission.
Summary: Continues to allow members of the Public Utilities Commission to conduct private closed-door ex parte communications with people with interests before the commission, but would require PUC commissioners to publicly disclose their private conversations with those interests and provide details on what was said in each meeting. Also provides that the PUC commissioners may meet in a closed session to discuss administrative matters so long as no collective consensus is reached or vote taken on any matter requiring a vote of the commissioners. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2015 report, Conversations For Workable Government.
Support Letter
Final Action: Signed by the Governor.
Climate Change Adaptation
AB 1482 (Gordon) Climate adaptation.
Summary: Requires the Natural Resource Agency, in coordination with the Strategic Growth Council, to assess and coordinate across all state departments and agencies to ensure that funding programs maximize prescribed objectives related to climate change adaptation. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2014 report, Governing California Through Climate Change.
Support Letter
Final Action: Signed by the Governor.
SB 246 (Wieckowski) Climate change adaptation.
Summary: Designates the Governor’s Office of Planning & Research as the lead entity on climate change adaptation. Also establishes an information clearinghouse and an advisory council that would provide scientific support. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2014 report, Governing California Through Climate Change.
Support Letter
Final Action: Signed by the Governor.
SB 379 (Jackson) Land use: general plan: safety element.
Summary: Requires the safety element of local general plans address climate change adaptation and resiliency strategies applicable to the city or county. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2014 report, Governing California Through Climate Change.
Support Letter
Final Action: Signed by the Governor.
Denti-Cal
AB 648 (Low) Health care access demonstration project grants: Virtual Dental Home Grant Program.
Summary: Establishes the Virtual Dental Home Grant Program, to allocate funds, under the direction of the state dental director, for the virtual dental home (VDH) model of community-based dental care in geographic areas of highest need, as prescribed. Requires the program to allocate the grants to organizations to, among other things, develop training modules and establish community-based learning collaboratives, as prescribed. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2016 report, Fixing Denti-Cal.
Support Letter
Final Action: Held on Senate Appropriations Suspense File.
AB 1051 (Maienschein) Denti-Cal program: reimbursement rates.
Summary: Requires the State Department of Health Care Services to increase Denti-Cal provider reimbursement rates for the 15 most common prevention, treatment, and oral evaluation services to the regional average commercial rates, effective January 1, 2017. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2016 report, Fixing Denti-Cal.
Support Letter
Final Action: Held on Senate Appropriations Suspense File.
AB 2207 (Wood) Medi-Cal: dental program.
Summary: Requires the State Department of Health Care Services to undertake specified activities for the purpose of improving the Medi-Cal Dental Program, such as expediting provider enrollment and monitoring dental service access and utilization. Also requires a Medi-Cal managed care health plan to provide dental health screenings for eligible beneficiaries and refer them to appropriate Medi-Cal dental providers. This bill provides that those provisions shall only be implemented to the extent that the department obtains any necessary federal approvals and federal matching funds. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2016 report, Fixing Denti-Cal.
Support Letter
Final Action: Signed by the Governor.
SB 1098 (Cannella) Medi-Cal: dental services: utilization rate: report.
Summary: Requires the State Department of Health Care Services to report to the Legislature, by October 1, 2017, on progress towards the goal of raising the Denti-Cal utilization rate among eligible child beneficiaries to 60% or greater and identify a date by which the department projects this utilization goal will be met. Also authorizes the department to include in the report recommendations for legislative consideration that would assist the department to meet the goal by the specified date, as prescribed. The bill’s provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2021, pursuant to specified law. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2016 report, Fixing Denti-Cal.
Support Letter
Final Action: Signed by the Governor.
Government Interactions
AB 1238 (Linder) Certified copies of marriage, birth, and death certificates: electronic application.
Summary: Authorizes the State Registrar, local registrar or county recorder to accept electronic requests for certified copies of vital records without an accompanying notarized statement regarding the requester’s identity and allow Californians to complete requests for these records online. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2015 report, A Customer-Centric Upgrade For California Government.
Support Letter
Final Action: Placed on Assembly Appropriations Suspense File.
AB 2203 (Eggman) Department of Customer Service: establishment.
Summary: Establishes, within the Government Operations Agency, the Department of Customer Service to be headed by a Director of Customer Service, who would be appointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, the Governor. Also requires the director to engage the agency to promote an understanding of customer service and ensure the agency is making administrative decisions that serve customer needs. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2015 report, A Customer-Centric Upgrade For California Government.
Support Letter
Final Action: Referred to Assembly Accountability & Administrative Review Committee.
AB 2204 (Eggman) Office of Digital Services: establishment.
Summary: Establishes the Office of Digital Services, within a proposed Department of Customer Service, to be headed by a Director of Customer Service. The bill requires the office to, among other things, provide teams, on an as-needed basis, of technologists, engineers, designers, and other qualified individuals with technology skills to state agencies and departments to solve technology issues and create technology tools and platforms. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2015 report, A Customer-Centric Upgrade For California Government.
Support Letter
Final Action: Referred to Assembly Accountability & Administrative Review Committee.
AB 2636 (Linder) Certified copies of marriage, birth, and death certificates: electronic application.
Summary: If the request for a certified copy of a birth, death, or marriage record is made electronically, authorizes the official to accept electronic acknowledgment verifying the identity of the applicant using a multilayered remote identity proofing process that includes guidelines for security and privacy, and satisfying other specified requirements, ensuring that the applicant is an authorized person. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2015 report, A Customer-Centric Upgrade For California Government.
Support Letter
Final Action: Signed by the Governor.
Higher Education
AB 1741 (Rodriguez) Certified copies of marriage, birth, and death certificates: electronic application.
Summary: Establishes the California College Promise Innovation Grant Program, under the administration of the chancellor, which requires the chancellor to distribute multiyear grants, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the governing boards of community college districts, who meet certain requirements, to support the establishment of regional programs with the goals of increasing college preparation, college access, and college success. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2013 report, A New Plan for a New Economy: Reimagining Higher Education.
Support Letter
Final Action: Signed by the Governor.
SB 42 (Liu) Postsecondary education: Office of Higher Education Performance and Accountability.
Summary: Changes the composition of the California Postsecondary Education Commission and rename it as the California Commission on Higher Education Performance and Accountability. Also revises functions and duties. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2013 report, A New Plan for a New Economy: Reimagining Higher Education.
Support Letter
Final Action: Vetoed by the Governor.
Long-term Care
SB 547 (Liu) Aging and long-term care services, supports, and program coordination.
Summary: Creates the Statewide Aging and Long-Term Care Services Coordinating Council, chaired by the Secretary of California Health and Human Services, and would consist of the heads, or their designated representative, of specified departments and offices. The secretary would have specified responsibilities, including, but not limited to, leading the council in the development of a state aging and long-term care services strategic plan to address how the state will meet the needs of the aging population in the years 2020, 2025, and 2030. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2011 report, A Long-Term Strategy for Long-Term Care.
Support Letter
Final Action: Vetoed by the Governor.
Mental Health Services Act
AB 2279 (Cooley) Mental Health Services Act: county-by-county spending reports.
Summary: Requires the State Department of Health Care Services to compile information on an annual basis that includes the total amount of MHSA revenue, a county-by-county comparison of fund expenditure plans and annual updates, and a county-by-county comparison of the purposes for which MHSA funds were expended and to send that information to the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission. Also requires the commission to make the information available to the public on the commission’s Internet website and to update the Internet website annually. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2015 report, Promises Still to Keep: A Decade of the Mental Health Services Act.
Support Letter
Final Action: Vetoed by the Governor.
AB 253 (Hernandez) Mental health.
Summary: Adds two members to the Mental Health Oversight and Accountability Commission to include a representative knowledgeable in reducing mental health disparities and a veteran. Also requires the Department of Health Care Services to post counties’ cultural competence plans within 30 days of receiving them. Also includes amendments to the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act of 2014. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2015 report, Promises Still to Keep: A Decade of the Mental Health Services Act.
Support Letter
Final Action: In Senate Transportation and Housing Committee. Hearing canceled at the request of the author.
Sentencing
AB 2590 (Weber) Sentencing: restorative justice.
Summary: Makes legislative findings and declarations that the purpose of sentencing is public safety achieved through punishment, rehabilitation, and restorative justice. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2014 report, Sensible Sentencing for a Safer California.
Support Letter
Final Action: Signed by the Governor.
Underground Economy
AB 1508 (Hernandez) Workforce investment boards: funding.
Summary: Requires the Governor to appoint an underground economy policy advisor. Requires the advisor to submit a report to the Governor and Legislature by January 1, 2017 on administrative and legislative changes needed to combat the underground economy. This bill relates to the Commission’s 2015 report, Level the Playing Field: Put California’s Underground Economy Out of Business.
Support Letter
Final Action: In Senate. Ordered to inactive file.