BILL NUMBER: SB 22 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 460
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 11, 2007
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 11, 2007
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 12, 2007
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 10, 2007
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 7, 2007
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 31, 2007
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 20, 2007
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 18, 2007
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 19, 2007
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 13, 2007
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 24, 2007
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 10, 2007
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 6, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Senator Migden
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Leno)
DECEMBER 4, 2006
An act to amend Section 123360 of, and to add Sections 1257.9 and
123361 to, the Health and Safety Code, and to add Section 14134.55 to
the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to breast-feeding.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 22, Migden. Breast-feeding.
Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health licenses
and regulates health facilities, including hospitals.
This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to
recommend specified training that is intended to improve
breast-feeding rates among mothers and infants for general acute care
hospitals and special hospitals that provide maternity care, and
that have exclusive patient breast-feeding rates in the lowest 25%,
as described. The bill would require the department to notify the
hospital director or other person in charge of the hospital that the
training is available, upon request, to the hospital.
Existing law provides for the California Special Supplemental Food
Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) administered by the
State Department of Public Health and counties, under which nutrition
and other assistance is provided to low-income postpartum and
lactating women, infants, and children under 5 years of age. Existing
law also requires the department to conduct a public service
campaign that includes the promotion of mothers breast-feeding their
infants.
This bill would require the department not later than July 1,
2008, to the extent that specified federal funds and private grants
or donations are made available for this purpose, to begin expansion
of the breast-feeding peer counseling program at local agency WIC
sites, as provided.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is
administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under
which health care services are provided to qualified low-income
persons. Existing law provides that Medi-Cal benefits include various
services to lactating mothers and infants.
This bill would require the department to streamline and simplify
existing Medi-Cal program procedures in order to improve access to
lactation supports and breast pumps among Medi-Cal recipients.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The United States Surgeon General and the American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) recommend exclusive breast-feeding for most babies,
unless specifically contraindicated, for the first six months and
continued breast-feeding with the addition of appropriate foods up to
at least one year of age.
(b) Medical research provides strong evidence that breast-feeding
decreases the incidence and severity of diarrhea, respiratory tract
infections, otitis media, a wide range of infectious diseases,
necrotizing enterocolitis, and urinary tract infections.
(c) The California Obesity Prevention Plan highlights
breast-feeding as a key strategy. The United States Government's
Healthy People 2010 goals seek to increase breast-feeding initiation
(any breast milk) to at least 75 percent of babies, at least 60
percent of babies exclusively breast-feeding at three months, at
least 50 percent of babies having some breast milk at six months, and
at least 25 percent of babies exclusively breast-feeding at six
months.
(d) The California Special Supplemental Food Program for Women,
Infants, and Children (WIC) program provided for pursuant to Article
2 (commencing with Section 123275) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Division
106 of the Health and Safety Code, provides nutritious foods and
breast-feeding support to 1.4 million pregnant and postpartum women
and their children up to five years of age. While 67 percent of WIC
mothers initiate breast-feeding at least partially in the hospital,
only 15 percent are exclusively breast-feeding by the time their
babies are two months old.
(e) Skilled, culturally competent support is critical to
increasing breast-feeding among high-risk low-income women. Key
factors that appear to increase the duration of breast-feeding among
WIC mothers include all of the following:
(1) Attendance at a breast-feeding class.
(2) Knowing others who have breast-fed.
(3) Support of breast-feeding by significant others.
(f) In the past five years, WIC pilot projects, which are
typically funded by foundations, First Five program grants, and
United States Department of Agriculture special grants, have
demonstrated that using breast-feeding peer counselors and lactation
consultants has a direct, positive impact on breast-feeding rates in
this population.
SEC. 2. Section 1257.9 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
1257.9. (a) (1) The department shall recommend training for
general acute care hospitals, as defined in subdivision (a) of
Section 1250, and special hospitals, as defined in subdivision (f) of
Section 1250, that is intended to improve breast-feeding rates among
mothers and infants. This recommended training should be designed
for general acute care hospitals that provide maternity care and have
exclusive patient breast-feeding rates in the lowest 25 percent,
according to the data published yearly by the State Department of
Public Health, when ranked from highest to lowest rates. The training
offered shall include a minimum of eight hours of training provided
to appropriate administrative and supervisory staff on hospital
policies and recommendations that promote exclusive breast-feeding.
Hospitals that meet the minimum criteria for exclusive breast-feeding
rates prescribed in the most current Healthy People Guidelines of
the United States Department of Health and Human Services shall be
excluded from the training requirements recommended by this
paragraph.
(2) The department shall notify the hospital director or other
person in charge of a hospital to which paragraph (1) applies, that
the eight-hour model training course developed pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 123360, is available, upon request, to the
hospital.
(b) The recommendations provided for in this section are advisory
only. Nothing in this section shall require a hospital to comply with
the training recommended by this section. Section 1290 shall not
apply to this section, nor shall meeting the recommendations of this
section be a condition of licensure.
SEC. 3. Section 123360 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
123360. (a) The State Department of Public Health shall include
in its public service campaign the promotion of mothers
breast-feeding their infants.
(b) The department shall develop a model eight-hour training
course of hospital policies and recommendations that promote
exclusive breast-feeding, incorporating available materials already
developed by the department, and shall specify hospital staff for
whom this model training is appropriate. The department shall also
provide the model training materials to hospitals, upon request.
SEC. 4. Section 123361 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
123361. To the extent that non-United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) federal funds and private grants or donations are
made available for this purpose, the State Department of Public
Health shall, no later than July 1, 2008, begin expansion of the
breast-feeding peer counseling program at local agency California
Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC) sites. Plans for the expansion of the program shall take into
account local WIC agency program models that have demonstrated the
greatest improvement in breast-feeding rates, including exclusive
breast-feeding rates. Program expansion shall be contingent upon the
availability of non-USDA federal funds and private grants or
donations being made available for this purpose. Nothing in this
section shall impact USDA federal funding for the WIC Supplemental
Food Program or the breast-feeding peer counseling program at local
agency WIC sites.
SEC. 5. Section 14134.55 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
14134.55. The department shall streamline and simplify existing
Medi-Cal program procedures in order to improve access to lactation
supports and breast pumps among Medi-Cal recipients.