BILL NUMBER: AB 586	CHAPTERED  09/29/06

	CHAPTER  703
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  SEPTEMBER 29, 2006
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  SEPTEMBER 29, 2006
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 28, 2006
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 23, 2006
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 21, 2006
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 14, 2006
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 17, 2006
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 26, 2005

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Negrete McLeod

                        FEBRUARY 16, 2005

   An act to add Section 1797.153 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to emergency medical services.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 586, Negrete McLeod  Medical disaster mobilization.
    Pursuant to the Emergency Medical Services System and Prehospital
Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, the Emergency Medical Services
Authority is established within the California Health and Human
Services Agency to administer the emergency medical services system
to coordinate and integrate effective and efficient emergency medical
services throughout the 58 counties of the state.
   The EMS Act, in part, requires that the authority develop planning
and implementation guidelines for emergency medical services
systems, receive implementation plans from local EMS agencies, assess
each EMS area, and provide technical assistance to local agencies
for the purpose of developing the components of the EMS systems.
    The EMS Act provides for coordination of services with other
state agencies, establishes the Interdepartmental Committee on
Emergency Medical Services to advise the authority, provides
personnel standards, and provides for local administration of county
EMS programs.
   Existing law requires the authority, in consultation with the
Office of Emergency Services, to respond to any medical disaster by
mobilizing and coordinating emergency medical services mutual aid
resources to mitigate health problems.
   Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, subdivides
the state emergency services organizations into mutual aid regions,
as defined, for the purpose of facilitating the coordination of
mutual aid and other emergency operations. The law defines an
operational area for this purpose as an intermediate level of state
emergency services organization, consisting of a county and all
political subdivisions within a county.
   This bill would authorize the county health officer and the local
EMS agency administrator to jointly act as the medical health
operational area coordinator. It would, if an operational area has a
medical health operational area coordinator, designate the medical
health operational area coordinator, in cooperation with various
agencies, as the entity responsible for ensuring the development of a
medical and health disaster plan, and would set forth the contents
of the plan. The bill would authorize appointment of another person
to perform that role, if the county health officer and the local EMS
agency are unable to do so.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 1797.153 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, immediately following Section 1797.152, to read:
   1797.153.  (a) In each operational area the county health officer
and the local EMS agency administrator may act jointly as the medical
health operational area coordinator (MHOAC). If the county health
officer and the local EMS agency administrator are unable to fulfill
the duties of the MHOAC they may jointly appoint another individual
to fulfill these responsibilities. If an operational area has a
MHOAC, the MHOAC in cooperation with the county office of emergency
services, local public health department, the local office of
environmental health, the local department of mental health, the
local EMS agency, the local fire department, the regional disaster
and medical health coordinator (RDMHC), and the regional office of
the Office of Emergency Services (OES), shall be responsible for
ensuring the development of a medical and health disaster plan for
the operational area. The medical and disaster plans shall follow the
Standard Emergency Management System and National Incident
Management System. The MHOAC shall recommend to the operational area
coordinator of the Office of Emergency Services a medical and health
disaster plan for the provision of medical and health mutual aid
within the operational area.
   (b) For purposes of this section, "operational area" has the same
meaning as that term is defined in subdivision (b) of Section 8559 of
the Government Code.
   (c) The medical and health disaster plan shall include
preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation functions consistent
with the State Emergency Plan, as established under Sections 8559
and 8560 of the Government Code, and, at a minimum, the medical and
health disaster plan, policy, and procedures shall include all of the
following:
   (1) Assessment of immediate medical needs.
   (2) Coordination of disaster medical and health resources.
   (3) Coordination of patient distribution and medical evaluations.

   (4) Coordination with inpatient and emergency care providers.
   (5) Coordination of out-of-hospital medical care providers.
   (6) Coordination and integration with fire agencies personnel,
resources, and emergency fire prehospital medical services.
   (7) Coordination of providers of nonfire based prehospital
emergency medical services.
   (8) Coordination of the establishment of temporary field treatment
sites.
   (9) Health surveillance and epidemiological analyses of community
health status.
   (10) Assurance of food safety.
   (11) Management of exposure to hazardous agents.
   (12) Provision or coordination of mental health services.
   (13) Provision of medical and health public information protective
action recommendations.
   (14) Provision or coordination of vector control services.
   (15) Assurance of drinking water safety.
   (16) Assurance of the safe management of liquid, solid, and
hazardous wastes.
   (17) Investigation and control of communicable disease.
   (d) In the event of a local, state, or federal declaration of
emergency, the MHOAC shall assist the OES operational area
coordinator in the coordination of medical and health disaster
resources within the operational area, and be the point of contact in
that operational area, for coordination with the RDMHC, the OES, the
regional office of the OES, the State Department of Health Services,
and the authority.
   (e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to revoke or alter
the current authority for disaster management provided under either
of the following:
   (1) The State Emergency Plan established pursuant to Section 8560
of the Government Code.
   (2) The California standardized emergency management system
established pursuant to Section 8607 of the Government Code.