BILL NUMBER: AB 547 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 692
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 7, 2005
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 7, 2005
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 29, 2005
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 23, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 11, 2005
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Berg and Richman
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bass, Calderon, Chan, Chu, Cohn, De
La Torre, Dymally, Evans, Goldberg, Hancock, Jones, Koretz, Laird,
Leno, Levine, Lieber, Montanez, Mullin, Oropeza, Pavley,
Ridley-Thomas, Saldana, Salinas, and Vargas)
(Coauthors: Senators Alquist, Chesbro, Kehoe, Kuehl, Lowenthal,
Migden, and Romero)
FEBRUARY 16, 2005
An act to amend Section 11364.7 of, and to add Chapter 18
(commencing with Section 121349) to Part 4 of Division 105 of, the
Health and Safety Code, relating to clean needle and syringe
exchange.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 547, Berg Clean needle and syringe exchange projects.
Existing law authorizes pharmacists and physicians to furnish
hypodermic needles and syringes without a prescription or permit for
human use in the administration of insulin or adrenaline.
Existing law prohibits any public entity, its agents, or employees
from being subject to criminal prosecution for distribution of
hypodermic needles or syringes to participants in clean needle and
syringe exchange projects authorized by the public entity pursuant to
a declaration of a local emergency due to the existence of a
critical local public health crisis.
This bill would instead authorize cities, counties, or cities and
counties to have a clean needle and syringe exchange project that, in
consultation with the State Department of Health Services,
authorizes this exchange, as recommended by the United States
Secretary of Health and Human Services and as part of a network of
comprehensive services.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The rapidly spreading acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
(AIDS) epidemic, and the more recent spread of blood-borne hepatitis,
pose an unprecedented public health crisis in California, and
threaten, in one way or another, the life and health of every
Californian.
(b) Injection drug users are the second largest group at risk of
becoming infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and
developing AIDS, and they are the primary source of heterosexual,
female, and perinatal transmission in California, the United States,
and Europe.
(c) According to the Office of AIDS, injection drug use has
emerged as one of the most prevalent risk factors for new AIDS cases
in California.
(d) Studies indicate that the lack of sterile needles available on
the streets, and the existence of laws restricting needle
availability promote needle sharing, and consequently the spread of
HIV among injection drug users. The sharing of contaminated needles
is the primary means of HIV transmission within the injection drug
user population.
(e) Most injection drug users use a variety of drugs, mainly
heroin, cocaine, and amphetamines. Because amphetamine- and
cocaine-injecting drug users inject more frequently than heroin
users, their risk for HIV infection is higher.
SEC. 2. Section 11364.7 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
11364.7. (a) Except as authorized by law, any person who
delivers, furnishes, or transfers, possesses with intent to deliver,
furnish, or transfer, or manufactures with the intent to deliver,
furnish, or transfer, drug paraphernalia, knowing, or under
circumstances where one reasonably should know, that it will be used
to plant, propagate, cultivate, grow, harvest, compound, convert,
produce, process, prepare, test, analyze, pack, repack, store,
contain, conceal, inject, ingest, inhale, or otherwise introduce into
the human body a controlled substance, except as provided in
subdivision (b), in violation of this division, is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
No public entity, its agents, or employees shall be subject to
criminal prosecution for distribution of hypodermic needles or
syringes to participants in clean needle and syringe exchange
projects authorized by the public entity pursuant to Chapter 18
(commencing with Section 121349) of Part 4 of Division 105.
(b) Except as authorized by law, any person who manufactures with
intent to deliver, furnish, or transfer drug paraphernalia knowing,
or under circumstances where one reasonably should know, that it will
be used to plant, propagate, cultivate, grow, harvest, manufacture,
compound, convert, produce, process, prepare, test, analyze, pack,
repack, store, contain, conceal, inject, ingest, inhale, or otherwise
introduce into the human body cocaine, cocaine base, heroin,
phencyclidine, or methamphetamine in violation of this division shall
be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one
year, or in the state prison.
(c) Except as authorized by law, any person, 18 years of age or
over, who violates subdivision (a) by delivering, furnishing, or
transferring drug paraphernalia to a person under 18 years of age who
is at least three years his or her junior, or who, upon the grounds
of a public or private elementary, vocational, junior high, or high
school, possesses a hypodermic needle, as defined in paragraph (7) of
subdivision (a) of Section 11014.5, with the intent to deliver,
furnish, or transfer the hypodermic needle, knowing, or under
circumstances where one reasonably should know, that it will be used
by a person under 18 years of age to inject into the human body a
controlled substance, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be
punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year,
by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both
that imprisonment and fine.
(d) The violation, or the causing or the permitting of a
violation, of subdivision (a), (b), or (c) by a holder of a business
or liquor license issued by a city, county, or city and county, or by
the State of California, and in the course of the licensee's
business shall be grounds for the revocation of that license.
(e) All drug paraphernalia defined in Section 11014.5 is subject
to forfeiture and may be seized by any peace officer pursuant to
Section 11471.
(f) If any provision of this section or the application thereof to
any person or circumstance is held invalid, it is the intent of the
Legislature that the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or
applications of this section which can be given effect without the
invalid provision or application and to this end the provisions of
this section are severable.
SEC. 3. Chapter 18 (commencing with Section 121349) is added to
Part 4 of Division 105 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
CHAPTER 18. CLEAN NEEDLE AND SYRINGE EXCHANGE PROGRAM
121349. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that scientific
data from needle exchange programs in the United States and in Europe
have shown that the exchange of used hypodermic needles and syringes
for clean hypodermic needles and syringes does not increase drug use
in the population, can serve as an important bridge to treatment and
recovery from drug abuse, and can curtail the spread of human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among the intravenous drug
user population.
(b) In order to attempt to reduce the spread of HIV infection and
blood-borne hepatitis among the intravenous drug user population
within California, the Legislature hereby authorizes a clean needle
and syringe exchange project pursuant to this chapter in any city and
county, county, or city upon the action of a county board of
supervisors and the local health officer or health commission of that
county, or upon the action of the city council, the mayor, and the
local health officer of a city with a health department, or upon the
action of the city council and the mayor of a city without a health
department.
(c) The authorization provided under this section shall only be
for a clean needle and syringe exchange project as described in
Section 121349.1
121349.1. A city and county, or a county, or a city with or
without a health department, that acts to authorize a clean needle
and syringe exchange project pursuant to this chapter shall, in
consultation with the State Department of Health Services, authorize
the exchange of clean hypodermic needles and syringes, as recommended
by the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, subject
to the availability of funding, as part of a network of
comprehensive services, including treatment services, to combat the
spread of HIV and blood-borne hepatitis infection among injection
drug users. Providers participating in an exchange project authorized
by the county, city, or city and county pursuant to this chapter
shall not be subject to criminal prosecution for possession of
needles or syringes during participation in an exchange project.
121349.2. Local government, local public health officials, and
law enforcement shall be given the opportunity to comment on syringe
exchange programs on an annual basis. The public shall be given the
opportunity to provide input to local leaders to ensure that any
potential adverse impacts on the public welfare of syringe exchange
programs are addressed and mitigated.
121349.3. The health officer of the participating jurisdiction
shall present annually at an open meeting of the board of supervisors
or city council a report detailing the status of syringe exchange
programs including, but not limited to, relevant statistics on
blood-borne infections associated with needle sharing activity. Law
enforcement, administrators of alcohol and drug treatment programs,
other stakeholders, and the public shall be afforded ample
opportunity to comment at this annual meeting. The notice to the
public shall be sufficient to assure adequate participation in the
meeting by the public. This meeting shall be noticed in accordance
with all state and local open meeting laws and ordinances, and as
local officials deem appropriate.