YOUR CA State Senator Hill and Bills He Has Being Considered

Article Source: CA State Senator Jerry Hill

For Immediate Release – Office of State Senator Jerry Hill – Friday, August 17, 2018

Bills by Senator Jerry Hill Responding to Doctor Misconduct Scandals and the Berkeley Balcony Tragedy Clear Major Hurdle in State Legislature and Advance to Full Assembly Vote

In All, 20 Hill Bills to Increase Patient and Public Safety, Improve Access to Affordable Housing, and Expand Opportunities for Four-Year College Degrees and More Await Assembly Floor Votes


SACRAMENTO – The Assembly Appropriations Committee approved state Senator Jerry Hill’s Senate Bill 1448, The Patient’s Right to Know Act of 2018, on Thursday, moving California one step closer to becoming the first state to require that doctors notify patients if placed on probation for sexual abuse or other serious professional misconduct that harms patients or impairs their safety.

The powerful committee also approved Senator Hill’s SB 1465, furthering efforts to increase oversight of construction contractors in response to the collapse of a fifth-story balcony at a Berkeley apartment building in 2015. Six young people died and seven of their friends were severely injured when the balcony, poorly sealed and weakened by dry rot, gave way.

“I am thankful for the support for these bills from my colleagues in the Assembly and I am particularly grateful to survivors of abuse by doctors and to Jackie Donohoe, whose daughter and niece were killed in the Berkeley tragedy, for lending their support to this legislation,” said Senator Hill, D-San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. “These brave women shared their painful personal experiences with lawmakers in hearing after hearing to underscore that changes must be made to protect the public from bad actors. This legislation would not have come this far without their courage and commitment.”

SB 1448, SB 1465 and a dozen other bills by Senator Hill that were approved by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Thursday now advance to the full Assembly for a floor vote. In all, 20 of his bills await Assembly floor votes.

The Assembly has already passed three bills by Senator Hill. One of them, SB 1028, is heading to Governor Jerry Brown for his consideration. Passed by the Assembly on Thursday, SB 1028 ensures that the savings enjoyed by utilities from the federal tax break for corporations are passed along to ratepayers. The two other bills passed by the Assembly on Thursday, SB 1355 prohibiting drones above state prisons and SB 1492 by the Senate Business, Professions and Professional Development Committee, returned to the Senate where they await a floor vote for concurrence on amendments.

Bills must clear both houses of the Legislature by August 31 in order to be considered by the governor.

Here is a list of the bills by Senator Hill that await an Assembly floor vote. Legislation passed by the Assembly Appropriations Committee Thursday is noted.

SB 273 increases safeguards for young people by expanding review requirements by Family Court Services and judges when individuals younger than 18 seek a court order to marry or enter into a domestic partnership in California. The bill also creates a requirement for local registrars and the state to compile statistics on marriages and domestic partnerships involving minors. SB 273 is aimed at increasing protections for young people from being forced into marriage or domestic partnerships, or into relationships resulting from or perpetuating child abuse.

SB 721, companion legislation with SB 1465, improves oversight of construction contractors and the balconies they build at apartments. SB 721 sets requirements for inspection of balconies and other elevated exterior elements, such as stairs and walkways, at apartment buildings and complexes. Jackie Donohoe of Rohnert Park, the mother of 22-year-old Ashley and aunt to 21-year-old Olivia Burke of Dublin, Ireland, who died when the balcony collapsed, testified to state legislators and policymakers at every hearing for the two bills and other balcony-related measures prompted by the tragedy. Senator Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, coauthored SB 721 and SB 1465.

SB 819 prohibits electrical and gas companies from passing costs arising from damages caused by the utilities’ negligence to ratepayers. The bill protects ratepayers while providing incentives for utilities to act responsibly and fulfill the expectation that they operate and maintain safe and reliable systems. Senator Hill introduced SB 819 after the Northern California wildfires in October 2017. Senators Bill Dodd, D-Napa, Mike McGuire, D-North Coast/North Bay, and Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, joined Senator Hill in introducing the bill. Senator Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, and Assemblymembers Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, and Jim Wood, D-Santa Rosa, are coauthors.

SB 823 increases consumer safety by requiring the Department of Health Care Services to adopt the treatment criteria of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, or an equivalent evidence-based standard, as the threshold for care by licensed recovery or treatment facilities addressing adult alcoholism or drug abuse. The bill also requires that the licensees maintain the standards appropriate to their level of care. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 823 on Thursday.

SB 1106 extends a pilot program that allows low-level, nonviolent young adult felons, who are 18 or older but under 21 and do not have a history of crime, to serve their time at juvenile halls, rather than at county jails with adults. The deferred judgment pilot program aims to improve outcomes for young adults by giving them access to services and environments that are age-appropriate. The bill extends the sunset date for the pilot program from January 1, 2020, to January 1, 2022. The bill also enables a sixth county, Ventura, to join Alameda, Butte, Napa, Nevada and Santa Clara counties as pilot program participants. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1106 on Thursday. The bill builds on Senator Hill’s SB 1004 of 2016, which authorized the pilot program.

SB 1115 aids nonprofits and religious organizations that privately fund and provide affordable housing by raising the cap on property tax exemptions from $10 million during a fiscal year to $20 million. Nonprofits that provide affordable housing to low income individuals and families, but do not receive tax subsidies or grants from the state or federal government, have a cap placed on the amount of property tax that may be exempted annually. Only 75 properties in California owned by 26 nonprofits are subject to the cap. Raising it would help nonprofits like the St. Francis Center in Redwood City and the AIDS Health Foundation in Los Angeles. Both have worked for decades to provide affordable housing and services in two of the state’s tightest and most expensive markets. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1115 on Thursday.

SB 1127, Jojo’s Act, helps students who require medical cannabis for extreme medical conditions attend school. The bill allows K-12 school districts and county boards of education to choose whether to allow a student’s parent or guardian to administer medical marijuana in a nonsmokable and nonvapable form to the child on campus. The student must be a qualified medical cannabis patient with a doctor’s recommendation. The medical cannabis would not be stored on campus and must be brought to school by the parent or guardian then taken away after the student receives the necessary dose. School districts and counties opting into the arrangement may opt out for any reason, including concerns about losing federal funding as a result of the policy. Seven states – Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey and Washington – have passed legislation allowing students to use medical cannabis at school. None have lost federal funding. The bill is named for a South San Francisco High School student living with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome who takes medical cannabis to forestall debilitating seizures that prevent him from attending school and leave him barely able to function.

SB 1205 ensures that fire departments report annually to their local governing authority about compliance with state mandates for safety inspections of schools, apartments, hotels, motels and lodging houses. SB 1205 directs the report to be made when the local governing authority discusses its annual budget, or at another time specified by the local body. SB 1205 responds to an investigative news report that revealed several fire departments are years behind in their safety investigations of schools and apartments. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1205 on Thursday.

SB 1376, The TNC Access for All Act, mandates the California Public Utilities Commission to develop regulations for transportation network companies on accessibility for people with disabilities. The bill requires the CPUC to engage in workshops with stakeholders, levy a fee on TNCs to help pay for wheelchair-accessible vehicles and create a program for groups to spend that fee to advance deployment of such vehicles. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1376 on Thursday.

SB 1397 requires high-occupancy buildings undergoing tenant or building renovations of $100,000 or more on or after January 1, 2020, to be equipped with an automated external defibrillator. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1397 on Thursday. The bill follows Senator Hill’s 2015 legislation, SB 658, which streamlined and updated state law on installation of AEDs, including training for their use at schools. SB 658 also eased liability related to good faith, not-for-profit acquisition and use of AEDs.

SB 1406 extends a pilot project that allows 15 community colleges to offer a four-year baccalaureate degree program. The proposed changes allow the colleges to enroll students for the pilot for a few more years so that the final cohort of participants begins their four-year degree program no later than the 2022-23 academic year and completes it by June 30, 2026. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1406 on Thursday. The bill follows SB 850, 2014 legislation introduced by then-Senator Marty Block with Senator Hill as coauthor. SB 850 authorized the pilot program and set the original cutoff date for enrollment so that participants would complete their four-year degree program by the 2022-23 academic year.

SB 1427 prohibits housing discrimination against military veterans and personnel. The bill also bars landlords from discriminating against homeless veterans who use federal Department of Housing and Urban Development Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers to pay for some or all of their rent. California law prohibits employment discrimination against U.S. military veterans and individuals currently serving in the nation’s armed forces but does not protect them from housing discrimination. SB 1427 closes that gap.

SB 1448 requires doctors to notify patients if placed on probation for sexual abuse or misconduct involving patients; drug or alcohol abuse that results in harm to patients or impairs the ability to practice safely; a criminal conviction involving harm to a patient’s safety or health; or inappropriate prescribing that resulted in harm to patients and a probationary period of five years or more. Doctors must also disclose basic details about their terms of probation and any conditions placed on their practice. The requirement would apply to physicians, surgeons, osteopaths, naturopathic doctors, chiropractors, podiatrists and acupuncturists placed on administrative probation by regulators on or after July 1, 2019. Doctors are already required to report their probationary status to their insurers and to hospitals and clinics they work with. Patients are not informed. They can find out if they take the initiative to periodically check on their doctor’s license status online or download an app recently created by the Medical Board of California, which licenses physicians. But that requires the patient to have a computer and internet access and, if using the app, an iOS device. Assemblymember Evan Low, D-Silicon Valley, coauthored SB 1448 with Senator Hill. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1448 on Thursday.

SB 1465, crafted with help from the Contractors State License Board, requires contractors who settle construction defect lawsuits for a million dollars or more involving load-bearing portions of multifamily rental residential structures to report those deals to the CSLB. The reports would be confidential unless the board pursues disciplinary measures. Architects and engineers must file similar settlement information to their licensing boards, but no such requirement exists for construction contractors. In the three years before the balcony tragedy, the general contractor that built the Berkeley apartment complex paid $26.5 million to settle construction defect cases – information that was not known to regulators until it was discovered and disclosed by news reporters. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1465 on Thursday.

SB 1474 enables the California Public Utilities Commission to better pursue enforcement actions against unlicensed transportation carriers. The bill allows the CPUC to contract with the CHP or sheriff’s departments to assist in impounding vehicles, such as limos and chartered buses, that are under the CPUC’s jurisdiction. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1474 on Thursday.

As chair of the Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Professional Development, Senator Hill introduced legislation on the operations by regulatory boards for professions and vocations. Four sunset bills await Assembly floor votes: SB 1480, which applies to a range of boards, SB 1481 on the Structural Pest Control Board, SB 1482 pertaining to the Dental Hygiene Board and its licensees, and SB 1483, which applies to the Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation. The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed SB 1480, 1481 and 1483 on Thursday.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee also passed SB 1491, a bill on healing arts boards and their licensees, on Thursday. The legislation, which now awaits an Assembly floor vote, was introduced by the Senate business and professions committee.

Lastly, two bills returned to the Senate for concurrence on amendments after being passed by the full Assembly on Thursday:

SB 1355 by Senator Hill prohibits individuals from operating drones at or over a state prison, a jail or a juvenile hall, camp or ranch. The restrictions do not apply to employees of the facilities who operate such devices as part of their job and have specific permission use them. Violating SB 1355 would be an infraction punishable by a $500 fine.

SB 1492 pertains to the Department of Consumer Affairs and its Board of Accountancy, Board of Barbering and Cosmetology and Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education. SB 1492 also is a Senate business and professions committee bill.

Four bills introduced by Senator Hill did not advance this year. SB 1132, the senator’s fifth attempt to reduce the fine for rolling right turns against a red light, and SB 1186, his effort to bring transparency to law enforcement’s use of advanced surveillance technology, did not survive review by the Assembly Appropriations Committee and were held in committee Thursday. Earlier this year, his SB 1185, which addressed an epidemic of lost, stolen and missing police guns by requiring annual inventories, and SB 1273, which sought to discourage consumption of recreational marijuana by people under 21 by setting up escalating outcomes for the illegal practice, did not survive review by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The Legislature’s appropriations committees consider the fiscal impacts to the state posed by legislation and typically do not detail why bills are held back. Lawmakers may choose to introduce similar legislation in a succeeding session, a decision generally not made until the next legislative year is under way. “These issues remain very important to me,” Senator Hill said. “We’ll see whether there are greater opportunities for success at a later date.”

Contact: Leslie Guevarra, 415-298-3404, leslie.guevarra@sen.ca.gov
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Robert Riechel

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