Summaries of All Senate Bills Heard
Summaries of All Senate Bills Heard
by the Committee in 2005 – 2006
BILL # / AUTHOR / SUMMARY / STATUS12 / Escutia / School Food Nutrition. Removes the requirement that SB 19 (Escutia), Chapter 913, Statutes of 2001, be funded in order to be implemented, thereby implementing nutrition standards in elementary schools, and extends the standards to secondary schools. Modifies nutrition standards for elementary schools. / Chapter 235, Statutes of 2005
18 / Ortiz / Runner / Reproductive Health and Research. Requires the State Auditor to conduct a performance audit of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, and to issue an audit report by June 30, 2006. States Legislative intent that the State Auditor conduct additional audit work, if necessary. / Vetoed by the Governor
19 / Ortiz / California Rx Program. Establishes the California State Pharmacy Assistance Program, a state pharmacy assistance program under the authority of the Department of Health Services, to provide prescription drug discounts for California residents with income up to 300% of the federal poverty level. / Failed Passage in Senate Health
23 / Migden / Healthy Families Program and Medi-Cal. Requires the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) and the State Department of Health Services to enter into an interagency agreement with the State Employment Development Department to promote participation in the Healthy Families and Medi-Cal programs, and requires MRMIB to develop a process by which family contributions to Healthy Families are deducted from an applicant’s pay and are transmitted by the employer to MRMIB. / Vetoed by the Governor
24 / Ortiz / Hospital Charity Care. Directs acute-care, acute-psychiatric and special hospitals to limit charges imposed on patients with incomes below 400 percent of federal poverty guidelines. Authorizes the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to develop a model application for patients seeking to qualify for charity-care and reduced-payment status. / Died in Senate Appropriations
37 / Speier / Prohibited Substances. Requires the Department of Health Services to provide to the State Department of Education with the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s “Guide to Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods of Doping”, on or before June 30, 2006. Makes changes relating to the 1998 California High School Coaching Education Program. / Chapter 673, Statutes of 2005
38 / Alquist / Healthy Families Program. States the intent of the Legislature to expand the income household eligibility limit for the Healthy Families Program from 250 percent to 300 percent of the federal poverty level. / Died at
Assembly Desk
47 / Scott / Nonprofit Medical Research Clinics. Removes the January 1, 2008 sunset date for the exemption from licensure requirements for nonprofit clinics that satisfy requirements regarding medical research and the receipt of charitable contributions, including satisfying requirements regarding medical research and the receipt of charitable contributions before January 1, 2005. Requires such clinics to report to the Legislature on their activities by January 1, 2007, and every five years thereafter, at a cost borne by the clinics. / Chapter 135, Statutes of 2005
103 / Ducheny / Primary Care Clinic Licensing: Timing. Makes changes to the licensure requirements for primary care clinics. / Provisions Removed from Version Heard in Committee
108 / Lowenthal / Health Care Service Plans: Procedures For Participation by Subscribers and Enrollees. Deletes a provision in the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 that deems health plan compliance with federal Health Maintenance Organization Act requirements related to subscriber and enrollee involvement in the plan’s public policy as compliance with state requirements relating to plan public policy making. / Chapter 45, Statutes of 2005
131 / Chesbro / Medi-Cal: Reimbursement for Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics. Extends the period for filing scope-of-service rate adjustment requests from 90 days to 150 days and requires Federal Qualified Health Centers in Los Angeles County to transition from cost of service to a prospective payment system. / Chapter 548, Statutes of 2005
144 / Runner / Retail Food. Repeals and reenacts the existing California Uniform Retail Food Facilities Law as the California Retail Food Code, including substantive changes, effective July 1, 2007. / Chapter 23, Statutes of 2006
147 / Runner / Fetal Pain Prevention. Enacts the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2005 to require, with an exemption for medical emergency, the physician performing the abortion to offer to the pregnant woman information and counseling on fetal pain. / Died in
Senate Health
162 / Ortiz / Runner / State Department of Public Health. Establishes a Department of Public Health within the Health and Human Services Agency, and transfers various responsibilities relating to public health, currently administered by the Department of Health Services to the new department. / Chapter 241, Statutes of 2006
163 / Scott / Public Contracts: Pharmaceutical Companies. Requires a pharmaceutical company that has state contracts to disclose the percentage of its national operating budget that is expended for marketing purposes and the percentage that is expended for research and development, to the extent permitted by federal law. / Provisions Removed from Version Heard in Committee
167 / Speier / Seismic and Patient Safety. Amends the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983 to permit delays of the 2008 seismic safety deadline for specified hospitals that do not exceed maximum allowable seismic risk, as determined by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, and expedites the final compliance deadline to 2020 for hospitals granted the delay. / Died in
Assembly Health
206 / Dunn / Inpatient Hospital Services: Reimbursement: Pediatric Outlier Payment Adjustment Program. Establishes the Pediatric Outlier Payment Adjustment Program to provide funding to offset the unfunded costs of eligible hospitals that serve Medi-Cal eligible children with extraordinarily health care needs. / Died in
Senate Health
209 / Alquist / Stroke Education. Requires the Department of Health Services to implement an education program intended to reduce the incidence of strokes. Requires the department to conduct seminars for high-risk populations and disseminate information regarding strokes. Requires the program to be consistent with the recommendations of the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention and Treatment State Master Plan. / Died in Senate Appropriations
224 / Chesbro / Health Facilities: Construction Plans. Creates a project to demonstrate and evaluate a plan review process for multistory hospital buildings that would exempt specified repair and maintenance projects from pre-construction review and inspection by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. / Chapter 494, Statutes of 2005
257 / Chesbro / Mental Health Services. Requires the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, established pursuant to Proposition 63, titled the Mental Health Services Act, to elect from its members, a chair and vice chair at its first meeting and annually thereafter. / Provisions Removed from Version Heard in Committee
266 / Romero / Trauma Care. Requires the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) to establish a trauma care advisory committee as specified, and requires the committee to develop a statewide trauma care plan, present the plan to the EMSA, and provide the plan to the Legislature along with the EMSA’s comments by January 1, 2007. / Vetoed by the Governor
267 / Romero / Emergency Medical Services: Trauma Care Fund. Changes the distribution formula that local emergency medical services agencies must use to distribute money from the Trauma Care Fund to trauma care centers. / Provisions Removed from Version Heard in Committee
279 / Cedillo / Physicians and Surgeons: Locum Tenens Services. Declares that a temporary physician staffing agency, commonly referred to as a locum tenens agency, is not an employer of physicians they place. / Chapter 596, Statutes of 2005
281 / Maldonado / Nutrition. Requires the Department of Health Services and the Department of Food and Agriculture, in consultation with the Department of Education, to develop a program that encourages public schools to provide fruits and nonfried vegetables free of charge to students. / Chapter 236, Statutes of 2005
315 / Margett / Hospitals: Reduction or Elimination of Emergency Medical Services: Notice. Requires the hospital to notify those entities and all local emergency medical services agencies within the region served by the hospital at least 90 days before a planned reduction or elimination of the level of emergency medical services or closure of the hospital. / Failed Passage
in Senate Appropriations
325 / Ducheny / County Reimbursement. Appropriates $69,000,000 from funds payable under the Federal Trust Fund, and monies from the General Fund, to the State Department of Mental Health for allocation to county mental health agencies for the purposes of providing mental health services for the 2005-06 fiscal year under individualized education program developed pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. / Died in
Senate Health
328 / Cedillo / Health Facilities: Medi-Cal Reimbursement: Selective Provider Contracts. Establishes additional criteria that must be considered by the California Medical Assistance Commission in negotiating Medi-Cal inpatient payment rates for hospitals that are not "disproportionate share hospitals". / Provisions Removed from Version Heard in Committee
329 / Cedillo / California Prescription Drug Safety and Effectiveness Commission. Establishes the California Prescription Drug Safety and Effectiveness Commission within the California Health and Human Services Agency. Prescribes the composition of the commission, how the members will be appointed, the terms of commissioners, and duties of the commission related to providing Californians with information on the safety and effectiveness of prescription drugs via an Internet Web site. / Died in
Senate Health
340 / Battin / Stem Cell Research: Revenues. Requires that all revenues derived from patents, royalties, and licenses paid to the state as a result of intellectual property agreements entered into pursuant to these provisions be deposited into the General Fund. / Died in
Senate Health
364 / Perata / Health Care Service Plans. Allows an emergency physician who has a contract with a health plan, but does not have a contract with a medical group or other entity that has been assigned responsibility for paying claims by the health plan, to submit a claim to the plan, and requires the plan to pay the claim pursuant to the terms of the contract. Provides that a physician submitting a claim to a plan pursuant to the bill shall not bill the patient, except for copayments, deductibles, or other costs that are the responsibility of the patient. / Died on Assembly Floor
367 / Speier / Health Care Complaint System. Enacts the Patient and Provider Preferred Provider Organization Protection Act and revises the way complaints from health care providers are handled by the Department of Insurance. / Chapter 723, Statutes of 2005
375 / Speier / Medicare Supplement Coverage. Conforms state Medicare Supplement Insurance statutes to the federal Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, and expands Medicare beneficiaries’ access to Medicare supplemental insurance policies without medical underwriting. / Chapter 206, Statutes of 2005
377 / Ortiz / Medi-Cal: Dental Services. Requires the Department of Health Services to inform Denti-Cal and other Medi-Cal providers that prevention and treatment of dental and periodontal disease is a covered benefit for all pregnant beneficiaries. / Chapter 643, Statutes of 2005
380 / Alquist / Drugs: Adverse Event Reporting. Requires health care providers to report suspicious serious adverse drug events to the federal Food and Drug Administration / Provisions Removed from Version Heard in Committee
383 / Maldonado / State Department of Mental Health: Sexually Violent Predators. Allows the Department of Mental Health to enter into an inter-agency agreement or contract with the Department of Corrections and local law enforcement agencies for services related to the supervision and monitoring of sexually violent predators who have been conditionally released into the community. / Chapter 137, Statutes of 2005
397 / Escutia / Elder Death Review Teams. Requires skilled nursing facilities and residential care facilities for the chronically ill within a county that has an elder death review team (EDRT) to notify the chair or chair designee of the EDRT through fax or e-mail, when there is a death of an elderly resident of the facilities. / Provisions Removed from Version Heard in Committee
400 / Kuehl / Tobacco Licensing. Makes changes to the penalties imposed on a retailer convicted of furnishing cigarettes or tobacco products to a person under the age of 18. / Died in Senate Appropriations
401 / Ortiz / Runner / Medical Information: Pharmacies: Marketing. Includes in the definition of "marketing," under the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, written communications, which pharmacists provide to patients when dispensing prescription drugs, if the communication includes the trade name or commercial slogan for any drug other than the dispensed drug when the cost of the communication is paid, directly or indirectly, by a drug manufacturer or distributor. / Provisions Removed from Version Heard in Committee
409 / Kehoe / Emergency Health Care Services: Appropriations. Appropriates from the General Fund $5,451,000 to the Department of Health Services and $1,622,000 to the Emergency Medical Services Authority for the 2005-06 fiscal year, for specified public health purposes. / Chapter 26, Statutes of 2006
417 / Ortiz / Payment of Provider Claims. Prohibits a hospital-based physician, as defined, from engaging in a pattern of billing a patient for covered services in excess of applicable copayments, deductibles or coinsurance, unless specified conditions are met, establishes specific notice requirements when the physician sends a patient a bill or statement and establishes penalties in law for violations of this bill by physicians or for violations of statutorily mandated payment practices by health care service plans / Died in
Assembly Health
429 / Florez / Recreational Bathing: Sanitation. Requires the Department of Health Services (DHS) to convene a public advisory group consisting of specified members to advise DHS on the development of minimum sanitation standards of high-use or priority freshwater bathing areas, as specified. / Vetoed by the Governor
437 / Escutia / Health Care Coverage. Establishes the Healthy Families Presumptive Eligibility Program for children who appear to meet the income requirements of Healthy Families and were receiving but are no longer eligible for Medi-Cal without a share of cost or are eligible for Medi-Cal with share of cost and establishes the Medi-Cal to Healthy Families Accelerated Enrollment Program, subject to federal approval including Healthy Families Program (FFP), to provide temporary benefits until a final eligibility determination is made for children applying for Medi-Cal who appear to be eligible for Healthy Families (including children eligible for Medi-Cal with a share of cost). Requires the Department of Health Services to implement a process for self-certification of assets and income for various eligibility categories, subject to FFP, under the Medi-Cal program. / Chapter 328, Statutes of 2006
442 / Machado / Maintenance: Income Levels. Reduces the share of cost for medically needy persons under the Medi-Cal program by allowing an additional deduction from income of the difference of the current maintenance need level and 133% of the corresponding federal poverty level. Stipulates that it would only be implemented to the extent that federal financial participation is available. / Died in Senate Appropriations
452 / Alarcon / Medi-Cal: Contracts: Disclosure and Confidentiality. Requires the Governor, after reviewing an annual report comparing drug prices paid by Medi-Cal and AIDS Drug Assistance Program with those paid by the federal government, to decide if additional state rebates should be sought and to include that decision in the Governor’s budget. / Failed Passage on
Assembly Floor
454 / Ortiz / Health Counseling. Requires the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board and the Department of Health Services to establish standards to ensure that educational materials are available to beneficiaries of the Healthy Families Program and Medi-Cal, at their request, on the subjects of nutrition education, increased physical activity and participation in state and federal nutrition programs. Requires that these educational materials and outreach be culturally and linguistically appropriate so that beneficiaries will be aware of these benefits, and that they be made available through contracting providers. / Died in Senate Appropriations
456 / Runner / Access for Infants and Mothers: Federal Funding. Provides that federal funds allocated to the state under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program will also be allowed to support the Access for Infants and Mothers Program and prenatal services provided through Medi-Cal. / Died in
Senate Health
458 / Speier / Health Care: County Organized Health Systems. Permits community health centers and clinics to offer one month of prepaid coverage for preventive health care service for up to 200,000 employees of employers who have not offered employee health care coverage for the prior year when the employer has 5,000 or fewer employees in California. Permits county operated health systems and local initiatives to offer coverage to private employers in that county, another county, or both. / Chapter 906, Statutes of 2006
479 / Lowenthal/
Vincent / Childhood Obesity Mitigation. Requires the Department of Health Services to establish the Childhood Obesity Mitigation Pilot Project until January 1, 2008, and authorizes local agencies and certain health care providers to participate in the pilot project. Provides for the administration of the pilot project by a committee that consists of representatives of participating entities. / Died in Assembly Appropriations
482 / Chesbro / Napa State Hospital: Cemetery Restoration. Requires the State Department of Mental Health to develop a workplan for the restoration of Napa State Hospital gravesites, would exempt the workplan from the prohibitions against structural changes, and requires the Governor to submit the workplan and the proposed budget as part the Governor’s proposed 2006–07 fiscal year State Budget. / Died in
Senate Health
484 / Migden / Cosmetics: Chronic Health Effects. Requires, commencing January 1, 2007, cosmetic product manufacturers subject to federal Food and Drug Administration regulation to provide to the Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control a complete list of its cosmetic products that are sold in California, and to identify by product any ingredient that is a chemical identified as causing cancer or reproductive toxicity. / Chapter 729, Statutes of 2005