BILL NUMBER: SB 249	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Cox

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2009

   An act to amend Section 120395 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to vaccinations.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 249, as introduced, Cox. Vaccinations: meningitis.
   Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to
develop information about meningococcal disease, and make it
available to each requesting degree-granting public and private
postsecondary institution and to each requesting school district.
Existing law authorizes the department to design and implement a
public awareness campaign to reach members of the population
identified as being at high risk for contracting the disease.
   This bill would expressly authorize this campaign to include
children 11 years of age.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the
Advisory Committee on Immunizations Practices of the federal Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention has recently recommended that
parents and adolescents between 11 and 18 years of age be made aware
that a vaccine is now available to protect this age group from the
potentially fatal disease known as meningitis.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to do all the following:
   (1) Encourage the State Department of Public Health to increase
the awareness of the availability of the vaccine to this age group.
   (2) Encourage local public health officials to provide information
about meningitis, including the availability of, and recommendations
for, the vaccine, in any manner they deem appropriate.
   (3) Encourage local school districts to educate their students
within the 11 to 18 age group, as well as their parents, about the
meningitis disease, its potential danger, and the availability of a
vaccine to protect these children.
  SEC. 2.  Section 120395 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
   120395.  (a) The State Department of  Public  Health
 Services  shall, no later than April 1, 2002,
develop information about meningococcal disease. The information
shall include:
   (1) Information about meningococcal disease, including symptoms,
risks, and treatment.
   (2) Notice of the availability, benefits, risks, and limitations
of a meningococcus vaccination, with specific information as to those
persons at higher risk for the disease.
   (b) The department shall make available to each degree-granting
public and private postsecondary institution, upon the request of
that institution, information developed by the department on
meningococcal disease.
   (c) The department shall also send an information notice to each
school district advising each school district of the availability of
information developed by the department, and shall make the
information available to any school district upon the request of that
school district.
   (d) The department may also use the information developed to
design and implement a public awareness campaign about meningococcal
disease to reach members of the population identified as being at
high risk for contracting the disease  , including children 
 who are at l   east 11 years of age  .