CSAC Gearing Up for Legislature’s Return
December 18, 2015
The relative quiet and calm in the Capitol will quickly change come January 4 when the Legislature returns to Sacramento for the second half of the 2015-16 legislative session and the Governor’s releases his budget proposal for the coming fiscal year.
CSAC lobbying efforts in early January will be focused on several key bills that must to pass from their house of introduction before the January 31 deadline to remain alive with less than four weeks for both policy and fiscal committees to take action. A brief summary of priority bills are provided below with additional details provided in the individual policy sections of this Bulletin or through our Legislative Trackingweb page.
In addition to this rush of bills, Governor Brown will release his proposed FY 2016-17 Budget in the first week. While constitutional deadline is January 10th this falls on a Sunday so the Governor will likely be announced on the Thursday or Friday prior. CSAC will provide a complete summary and analysis in the first Budget Action Bulletin installment of the year.
Action in the First Special Session on transportation or Second Special Session on healthcare, however, remains uncertain. The combination of the Assembly leadership changes in early 2016 and the looming November election may mean a successful outcome will need to come to fruition before the spring to keep expected votes in line on any major funding packages. The Democrats are poised to elect speaker-nominee Assembly Member Anthony Rendon (Los Angeles County) in January but his term as Speaker would not start until March giving current Speaker Toni A. Atkins (San Diego County) a short window to align party votes. For the Republicans, Assembly Member Chad Mayes (San Bernardino County) will take the helm when the Legislature convenes January 4.
CSAC Priority Bills for January Deadline
Support/Sponsor
Online Vital Records Requests – AB 1238 (Linder). Sponsor. Would amend Health and Safety Code Section 103526 to allow local jurisdictions to provide consumers with the option to complete an online request for vital records digitally, consistent with the current practices of more than 33 other states. A local agency choosing to offer this digital option would provide a knowledge-based authentication method to establish the identity of the requestor and their acknowledgement as an authorized person electronically.
Medi-Cal: Specialty Mental Health Services: Foster Children – AB 1299 (Ridley Thomas). Support if Amended. Would make changes to how foster children placed outside of their county of original jurisdiction are able to access mental health services.
Vital Records Secure Printing – AB 1546 (Olsen). Sponsor. Would authorize a certified copy of a birth, death, or marriage record to include a feature other than currently required intaglio print that provides equal or greater security protection than intaglio print. The bill additionally calls for a study of the feasibility of the continued use of intaglio print and the implementation of different security features for paper used to print a vital record.
Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) Protection – Senate Bill 539 (McGuire). Support. Would assist local agencies ability to levy and collect TOT from online short-term vacation rentals, such as those offered by Airbnb, while upholding county ordinances prohibiting this type of temporary lodging.
Oppose/Oppose Unless Amended
Household Hazardous Waste Collection— Assembly Bill 45 (Mullin). Oppose. Would require local jurisdictions to create a household hazardous waste (HHW) base line and to meet a diversion requirement for HHW collection. Also allows the Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery (Cal Recycle) to create a model ordinance for a comprehensive diversion program and implement regulations, creating costly requirements without addressing key HHW issues, such as end-of-life product responsibility.
Data Breaches – AB 259 (Dababneh). Oppose Unless Amended. Would require agencies that are the source of a data breach to provide identity theft prevention and mitigation services to affected individuals for one year.
Peace Officer Presumptions – AB 511 (Gipson). Oppose. Would increase the number of peace officers that are eligible for several workers’ compensation presumptions, including cancer, heart trouble, and pneumonia. This is accomplished by expanding all of the current presumption laws to include all “individuals described” in several Penal Code sections regarding the definition of a peace officer.
State Hospital Placement Evaluations. – AB 1237 (Brown). Oppose. Would require the defense and prosecution to each confer with Department of State Hospitals (DSH) regarding selection of panelists for NGI and IST placements. Would repeal the existing NGI law requirement that licensed psychologists have a doctoral degree in psychology and at least five years of postgraduate experience in the diagnosis and treatment of emotional and mental disorders. Finally, this bill would limit any and all experts to only those with forensic experience.
Mental Health. Involuntary Commitment – AB 1300 (Ridley-Thomas). Oppose. Would change the current protections and procedures set in place for individuals suffering from a mental health emergency by reworking the Lanterman-Petris Short (LPS) Act – commonly known as the 5150 process. The LPS Act currently allows individuals to be detained for up to 72 hours if assessed by a behavioral health clinician as posing a danger to themselves or others.
Expanded Property Tax Assessment Value Transfers – Senate Bill 378/SCA 9 (Beall).Oppose Unless Amended. Would expand the current Prop 60/Prop 90 authority that allows seniors and persons with disabilities to transfer the asses value of their current residence to a new residence of equal or lesser value. SCA 9 would place before voters a proposal to expand the base value transfer to residence of greater value. This program expansion could result in loss of property tax revenue totaling millions of dollars statewide. CSAC would remove opposition if the law allows counties to make the determination locally.
Organized Camps – SB 476 (Mendoza). Oppose Unless Amended. Would expand the definition of an organized children’s camp to include resident camps and increase the responsibilities of the local health officer.