BILL NUMBER: AB 34 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Portantino DECEMBER 4, 2006 An act relating to umbilical cord blood banking. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 34, as introduced, Portantino. Umbilical cord blood banking: pilot project. Existing law imposes various responsibilities upon the State Department of Health Services and prenatal care providers with respect to prenatal care, screening, and counseling. Existing law, administered by the department, also contains provisions governing the licensure of blood banks. Effective July 1, 2007, responsibility for the administration of the above-described provisions will be transferred to the State Department of Public Health. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to develop a pilot project that would seek to diversify the umbilical cord blood supply collected in public blood banks. The bill would require the department to identify 5 hospitals, in ethnically diverse areas, as voluntary participants to collect, secure a patient's consent for donation of, and partner with specified entities to store, umbilical cord blood. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. (a) The State Department of Public Health shall develop a pilot program that creates a more diverse umbilical cord blood supply. To accomplish this end, the department shall identify five hospitals, in ethnically diverse areas, as volunteer participants to collect, secure a patient's consent to donate, and work with a public blood bank connected with national blood donor programs to store, umbilical cord blood. (b) Upon the pilot project's conclusion, the department shall provide the Legislature with an evaluation of the project's effectiveness in diversifying the umbilical cord blood supply.