Capitol Corner | August 2024

With the Legislature’s July Summer Recess now behind us, the Assembly and Senate begin their mad dash to complete the 2023-24 legislative session and get back to their districts to prepare for the November General Election. The August 16 deadline for fiscal committees to report bills to the floor of each house is just two-weeks away, so the focus of the Capitol community will be on respective Appropriations Committees in both houses as well as the all-important Suspense Files by which Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committee Chairs in collaboration with legislative leadership decide which bills will move forward and which will be declared dead for the year.  August 31 is the last day for each house to pass bills, and once they reach the Governor’s desk, he will have until September 30 to sign or veto them. 

With the 2024-25 state budget now in the rear view mirror, including the Medi-Cal private duty nursing (PDN) reimbursement rate increase scheduled to begin on January 1, 2026, and the tiered $25 health care minimum wage statute that requires a $21 initial minimum wage in our industry now delayed until no earlier than October 15 and no later than January 1, 2025, CAHSAH’s primary legislative focus for the next few weeks are workforce bills that allow selected community colleges to confer Bachelor of Nursing (BSN) degrees.  Those bills are pending in both houses and CAHSAH is working hard to see that both of those measures reach the legislative finish line and get a gubernatorial signature before the end of September.