BILL NUMBER: AB 2145	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 28, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Ammiano

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2010

   An act to amend Section 1714.22 of the Civil Code, relating to
drug overdose treatment.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2145, as amended, Ammiano. Drug overdose treatment: liability.
   Existing law authorizes a physician and surgeon to prescribe,
dispense, or administer prescription drugs, including
prescription-controlled substances, to an addict under his or her
treatment, as specified. Existing law prohibits, except in the
regular practice of his or her profession, any person from knowingly
prescribing, administering, dispensing, or furnishing a controlled
substance to or for any person who is not under his or her treatment
for a pathology or condition other than an addiction to a controlled
substance, except as specified.
   Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2011, and only in
specified counties, a licensed health care provider, who is already
permitted pursuant to existing law to prescribe an opioid antagonist,
as defined, if acting with reasonable care, to prescribe and
subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid antagonist in
conjunction with an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training
program, as defined, without being subject to civil liability or
criminal prosecution. Existing law requires a local health
jurisdiction that operates or registers an opioid overdose prevention
and treatment training program to collect prescribed data and report
it to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary by January 1,
2010.
   This bill would delete that reporting requirement. The bill would
expand the provisions to apply statewide and would also delete the
repeal date, thereby extending these provisions indefinitely.
   The bill would also authorize a person who is not otherwise
licensed to administer an opioid antidote in an emergency without fee
if the person has received specified training information and
believes in good faith that the other person is experiencing a drug
overdose. The bill would prohibit that person, as a result of his or
her acts or omissions, from being liable for any violation of any
professional licensing statute, or subject to any criminal
prosecution arising from or related to the unauthorized practice of
medicine or the possession of an opioid antidote. 
   The bill would also require the Director of Alcohol and Drug
Programs to publish annually a report on drug overdose trends
statewide that reviews state death rates from available data to
ascertain changes in the causes or rates of fatal and nonfatal drug
overdoses for the preceding period of not less than 5 years, as
specified. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  yes
  no  . State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 1714.22 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
   1714.22.  (a) For purposes of this section:
   (1) "Opioid antagonist" means naloxone hydrochloride that is
approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for the
treatment of a drug overdose.
   (2) "Opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program" or
"program" means any program operated by a local health jurisdiction
or that is registered by a local health jurisdiction to train
individuals to prevent, recognize, and respond to an opiate overdose,
and that provides, at a minimum, training in all of the following:
   (A) The causes of an opiate overdose.
   (B) Mouth to mouth resuscitation.
   (C) How to contact appropriate emergency medical services.
   (D) How to administer an opioid antagonist.
   (b) A licensed health care provider who is permitted by law to
prescribe an opioid antagonist may, if acting with reasonable care,
prescribe and subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid
antagonist in conjunction with an opioid overdose prevention and
treatment training program, without being subject to civil liability
or criminal prosecution. This immunity shall apply to the licensed
health care provider even when the opioid antagonist is administered
by and to someone other than the person to whom it is prescribed.
   (c) A person who is not otherwise licensed to administer an opioid
antidote may administer an opioid antidote in an emergency without
fee if the person has received the training information specified in
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) and believes in good faith that the
other person is experiencing a drug overdose. The person shall not,
as a result of his or her acts or omissions, be liable for any
violation of any professional licensing statute, or subject to any
criminal prosecution arising from or related to the unauthorized
practice of medicine or the possession of an opioid antidote.

   (d) (1) The Director of Alcohol and Drug Programs shall publish
annually a report on drug overdose trends statewide that reviews
state death rates from available data to ascertain changes in the
causes or rates of fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses for the
preceding period of not less than five years. The report shall also
provide information on interventions that would be effective in
reducing the rate of fatal or nonfatal drug overdose. 

   (2) The report may include:  
   (A) Trends in drug overdose death rates, including differentiation
on opiate overdoses between prescribed medication, illicitly
obtained prescription medication, and heroin.  
   (B) Trends in emergency room use related to drug overdose and the
cost impact of emergency room use.  
   (C) Trends in the use of prehospital and emergency services and
the cost impact of emergency services use.  
   (D) Suggested improvements in data collection.  
   (E) A description of other interventions effective in reducing the
rate of fatal or nonfatal drug overdose.