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.