BILL NUMBER: AB 2658	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Horton

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2008

   An act to amend Section 120130 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to disease prevention.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2658, as introduced, Horton. Disease prevention: reportable
diseases.
   Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to
establish a list of reportable diseases and conditions, which may
include both communicable and noncommunicable diseases. the list is
required to include the urgency of reporting each disease and
condition. Existing law requires this list to include specified
diseases and infections. Violation of these provisions is a
misdemeanor.
   This bill would eliminate the requirement that the department
include specified diseases and infections on the list of reportable
diseases and conditions. The bill would also revise the contents of
this list by requiring the department to specify the timeliness
requirements related to the reporting of each disease and condition,
and the mechanisms required for, and the content to be included in,
reports made pursuant to these provisions.
   The bill would also require, by July 1, 2009, or within one year
of the establishment of a state electronic laboratory reporting
system, whichever is later, any laboratory that generates a report
pursuant to these provisions to submit that report electronically in
a manner specified by the department.
   By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 120130 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   120130.  (a)  The department shall establish a list of reportable
diseases and conditions  and shall include the urgency of
  . For each reportable disease and condition, the
department shall specify the timeliness requirements related to the
 reporting  of  each disease and condition  , and
the mechanisms required for, and the content to be included in,
reports made pursuant to this section  . The list of reportable
diseases and conditions may include both communicable and
noncommunicable diseases.  The list may include those
diseases that are either known to be, or suspected of being,
transmitted by milk or milk-based products. The list shall also
include, but not be limited to, diphtheria, listeria, salmonella,
shigella, streptococcal infection in food handlers or dairy workers,
and typhoid.  The list may be modified at any time by the
department, after consultation with the California Conference of
Local Health Officers. Modification of the list shall be exempt from
the administrative regulation and rulemaking requirements of Chapter
3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title
2 of the Government Code, and shall be implemented without being
adopted as a regulation, except that the revised list shall be filed
with the Secretary of State and printed in the California Code of
Regulations as required under subdivision (d). Those diseases listed
as reportable shall be properly reported as required to the
department by the health officer.
   (b)  The department may from time to time adopt and enforce
regulations requiring strict or modified isolation, or quarantine,
for any of the contagious, infectious, or communicable diseases, if
in the opinion of the department the action is necessary for the
protection of the public health.
   (c)  The health officer may require strict or modified isolation,
or quarantine, for any case of contagious, infectious, or
communicable disease, when this action is necessary for the
protection of the public health.
   (d)  The list established pursuant to subdivision (a) and any
subsequent modifications shall be published in Title 17 of the
California Code of Regulations.
   (e)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no civil or
criminal penalty, fine, sanction, finding, or denial, suspension, or
revocation of licensure for any person or facility may be imposed
based upon a failure to provide the notification of a reportable
disease or condition that is required under this section, unless the
disease or condition that is required to be reported was printed in
the California Code of Regulations at least six months prior to the
date of the claimed failure to report. 
   (f) Commencing July 1, 2009, or within one year of the
establishment of a state electronic laboratory reporting system,
whichever is later, a report generated pursuant to this section by a
laboratory shall be submitted electronically in a manner specified by
the department. The department shall allow laboratories that receive
incomplete patient information to report the name of the provider
who submitted the request to the local health officer. 
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.