BILL NUMBER: SB 406 CHAPTERED 09/06/02 CHAPTER 393 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 6, 2002 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 5, 2002 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 30, 2002 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 26, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 24, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 1, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 28, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 17, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 14, 2002 INTRODUCED BY Senator Ortiz (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Correa) (Coauthors: Senators Chesbro, Figueroa, Karnette, Kuehl, Perata, Romero, and Torlakson) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Aanestad, Alquist, Chu, Diaz, Firebaugh, Havice, Koretz, Matthews, Robert Pacheco, Richman, Salinas, Strom-Martin, Vargas, and Wyman) FEBRUARY 21, 2001 An act to add Article 6 (commencing with Section 101315) to Chapter 3 of Part 3 of Division 101 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to health, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 406, Ortiz. Bioterrorism preparedness and other public health threats: federal funding. Existing law provides for the allocation of state aid to the administrative bodies of qualifying local health departments according to a specified formula. Among other things, the formula provides for a minimum basic allotment to each local health jurisdiction of $100,000 or $0.212426630 per capita, whichever is greater, with the balance allotted on a per capita basis. Existing law specifies the purposes for which the allocated funds may be used. This bill would establish procedures and requirements to govern the allocation to, and expenditure by, local health jurisdictions of federal funding received for the prevention of, and response to, bioterrorist attacks and other public health emergencies. The bill would provide that these procedures apply only when local health jurisdictions are designated by a federal or state agency to manage the funds for public health preparedness and response to bioterrorist attacks and other public health emergencies, pursuant to a specified federally approved plan. The bill would require a local health jurisdiction receiving funds under these provisions to deposit the money in a special Local Public Health Preparedness Trust Fund. This bill would provide that federal funding received by the State Department of Health Services for bioterrorism preparedness and emergency response is subject to appropriation in the annual Budget Act commencing with the 2003-04 fiscal year. This bill would appropriate $50,800,000 from the Federal Trust Fund to the department, half of which would be used for purposes of implementing these provisions and the other half of which would be used for purposes of allocating federal bioterrorism and public health preparedness funds to local health jurisdictions and overseeing that process, implementing state-level provisions of the federally approved collaborative state-local plan, and for hospital bioterrorism preparedness activities. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Appropriation: yes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Disease control, surveillance, and epidemiology are well recognized core local government public health functions, serving as integral components of the state's public safety network. (b) Counties rely on local public health agencies to detect and respond effectively to significant threats, including major outbreaks of infectious disease, pathogens resistant to antimicrobial agents, and the acts of bioterrorism. (c) California's public health infrastructure is lacking in its ability to respond to biological threats or other emergencies. The system has been allowed to atrophy over the past several decades, leaving the public more susceptible to serious outbreaks of infectious disease. (d) Threats of emerging infections and bioterrorism could be addressed more effectively with adequate funding infused into the public health system. Additional ongoing resources are needed to train additional public health staff, expand information and communication systems, and enhance public health laboratory capacity. (e) State and local public health departments require additional resources and funding to enhance their ability to respond to and prepare for future potential acts of biological terrorism or public health emergencies. SEC. 2. Article 6 (commencing with Section 101315) is added to Chapter 3 of Part 3 of Division 101 of the Health and Safety Code, to read: Article 6. Federal Funding for Bioterrorism Preparedness and Other Public Health Threats 101315. (a) Federal funding received by the State Department of Health Services for bioterrorism preparedness and emergency response is subject to appropriation in the annual Budget Act commencing with the 2003-04 fiscal year. (b) This article shall govern those instances when federal funding is allocated and expended for public health preparedness and response by local health jurisdictions for the prevention of, and response to, bioterrorist attacks and other public health emergencies pursuant to the federally approved collaborative state-local plan. (c) A local health jurisdiction shall be ineligible to receive funding from appropriations made for purposes of this article when that local health jurisdiction receives directly or through another local jurisdiction federal funding for the same purposes. Moneys appropriated in the annual Budget Act for purposes of this article that would have been allocated to a local health jurisdiction that is ineligible, pursuant to this subdivision, to receive funding shall be allocated, as provided in Section 101317, among the remaining local health jurisdictions that are eligible. (d) Funds appropriated for the purposes of this article shall not be used to supplant funding for existing levels of service and shall only be used for purposes specified in Section 101317. (e) This article shall apply only when local health jurisdictions are designated by a federal or state agency to manage the funds for public health preparedness and response to bioterrorist attacks and other public health emergencies, pursuant to the federally approved collaborative state-local plan. 101317. (a) For purposes of this article, allocations shall be made to the administrative bodies of qualifying local health jurisdictions described as public health administrative organizations in Section 101185, and pursuant to Section 101315, in the following manner: (1) (A) For the 2003-04 fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years, to the administrative bodies of each local health jurisdiction, a basic allotment of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), subject to the availability of funds appropriated in the annual Budget Act or some other act. (B) For the 2002-03 fiscal year, the basic allotment of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) shall be reduced by the amount of federal funding allocated as part of a basic allotment for the purposes of this article to local health jurisdictions in the 2001-02 fiscal year. (2) (A) Except as provided in subdivision (c), after determining the amount allowed for the basic allotment as provided in paragraph (1), the balance of the annual Budget Act appropriation for purposes of this article, if any, shall be allotted on a per capita basis to the administrative bodies of each local health jurisdiction in the proportion that the population of that local health jurisdiction bears to the population of all eligible local health jurisdictions of the state. (B) The population estimates used for the calculation of the per capita allotment pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be based on the Department of Finance's E-1 Report, "City/County Populations Estimates with Annual Percentage Changes" as of January 1 of the previous year. However, if within a local health jurisdiction there are one or more city health jurisdictions, the local health jurisdiction shall subtract the population of the city or cities from the local health jurisdiction total population for purposes of calculating the per capita total. (b) If the amounts appropriated in the annual Budget Act are insufficient to fully fund the allocations specified in subdivision (a), the department shall prorate and adjust each local health jurisdiction's allocation so that the total amount allocated equals the amount appropriated. (c) For the 2002-03 fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years, where the federally approved collaborative state-local plan identifies an allocation method, other than the basic allotment and per capita method described in subdivision (a), for specific funding to a local public health jurisdiction, including, but not limited to, funding laboratory training, chemical and nuclear terrorism preparedness, and information technology approaches, that funding shall be paid to the administrative bodies of those local health jurisdictions in accordance with the federally approved collaborative state-local plan for bioterrorism preparedness and other public health threats in the state. (d) Funds appropriated pursuant to the annual Budget Act or some other act for allocation to local health jurisdictions pursuant to this article shall be disbursed quarterly to local health jurisdictions beginning July 1, 2002, using the following process: (1) Each fiscal year, upon the submission of an application for funding by the administrative body of a local health jurisdiction, the department shall make the first quarterly payment to each eligible local health jurisdiction. That application shall include a plan and budget for the local program that is in accordance with the department's plans and priorities for bioterrorism preparedness and response, and other public health threats and emergencies, and a certification by the chairperson of the board of supervisors or the mayor of a city with a local health department that the funds received pursuant to this article will not be used to supplant other funding sources in violation of subdivision (d) of Section 101315. (2) The department shall establish procedures and a format for the submission of the local health jurisdiction's plan and budget. The local health jurisdiction's plan shall be consistent with the department's plans and priorities for bioterrorism preparedness and response and other public health threats and emergencies in accordance with requirements specified in the department's federal grant award. Payments to local health jurisdictions beyond the first quarter shall be contingent upon the approval of the department of the local health jurisdiction's plan and the local health jurisdiction's progress in implementing the provisions of the local health jurisdiction's plan, as determined by the department. (3) If a local health jurisdiction does not apply or submits a noncompliant application for its allocation, those funds provided under this article may be redistributed according to subdivision (a) to the remaining local health jurisdictions. (e) Funds shall be used for activities to improve and enhance local health jurisdictions' preparedness for and response to bioterrorism and other public health threats and emergencies, and for any other purposes, as determined by the department, that are consistent with the purposes for which the funds were appropriated. (f) Any local health jurisdiction that receives funds pursuant to this article shall deposit them in a special Local Public Health Preparedness Trust Fund established solely for this purpose before transferring or expending the funds for any of the uses allowed pursuant to this article. The interest earned on moneys in the fund shall accrue to the benefit of the fund and shall be expended for the same purposes as other moneys in the fund. (g) (1) A local health jurisdiction that receives funding pursuant to this article shall submit reports that display cost data and the activities funded by moneys deposited in its Local Public Health Preparedness Trust Fund to the department on a regular basis in a form and according to procedures prescribed by the department. (2) The department, in consultation with local health jurisdictions, shall develop required content for the reports required under paragraph (1), which shall include, but shall not be limited to, data and information needed to implement this article and to satisfy federal reporting requirements. The chairperson of the board of supervisors or the mayor of a city with a local health department shall certify the accuracy of the reports and that the moneys appropriated for the purposes of this article have not been used to supplant other funding sources. (h) The administrative body of a local health jurisdiction may enter into a contract with the department and the department may enter into a contract with that local health jurisdiction for the department to administer all or a portion of the moneys allocated to the local health jurisdiction pursuant to this article. (i) The department may recoup from a local health jurisdiction any moneys allocated pursuant to this article that are unspent or that are not expended for purposes specified in subdivision (d). The department may also recoup funds expended by a local health jurisdiction in violation of subdivision (d) of Section 101315. The department may withhold quarterly payments of moneys to a local health jurisdiction if the local health jurisdiction is not in compliance with this article or the terms of that local health jurisdiction's plan as approved by the department. Before any funds are recouped or withheld from a local health jurisdiction, the department shall meet with local health officials to discuss the status of the unspent moneys or the disputed use of the funds, or both. (j) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, moneys made available for bioterrorism preparedness pursuant to this article in the 2001-02 fiscal year shall be available for expenditure and encumbrance until June 30, 2003. Moneys made available for bioterrorism preparedness pursuant to this article from July 1, 2002, to August 30, 2003, inclusive, shall be available for expenditure and encumbrance until August 30, 2004, subject to extension of the federal grant authority. 101319. Due to the need to rapidly implement, and to provide local health jurisdictions with timely funding for the purposes of, this article, funds appropriated in the annual Budget Act or some other act for purposes of this article for the 2002-03 fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years shall be allocated through the use of agreements, which shall not be subject to Part 2 (commencing with Section 10100) of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code. SEC. 3. The sum of fifty million eight hundred thousand dollars ($50,800,000) is hereby appropriated from the Federal Trust Fund to the State Department of Health Services for allocation in accordance with the following schedule: (a) The sum of twenty-five million four hundred thousand dollars ($25,400,000) for purposes of implementing Article 6 (commencing with Section 101315) of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of Division 101 of the Health and Safety Code. (b) The sum of twenty-five million four hundred thousand dollars ($25,400,000) for purposes of allocating federal bioterrorism and public health preparedness funds to local health jurisdictions, and overseeing the expenditure of those funds, and for implementing state-level provisions of the federally approved collaborative state-local plan. Of this amount, nine million one hundred thousand dollars ($9,100,000) shall be allocated to the Emergency Medical Services Authority for hospital bioterrorism preparedness activities. SEC. 4. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to best enhance California's preparedness for and response to the threat of terrorism and in order for the provisions of this act to be applicable in the entire 2002-03 fiscal year, thereby facilitating the orderly administration of state government at the earliest possible time, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.