BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 186
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 186 (Williams)
As Amended March 30, 2011
Majority vote
HEALTH 19-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
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|Ayes:|Monning, Logue, Ammiano, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Atkins, Bonilla, Eng, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Garrick, Gordon, Hayashi, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Roger Hernández, | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| |Bonnie Lowenthal, | |Hill, Lara, Mitchell, |
| |Mansoor, Mitchell, | |Nielsen, Norby, Solorio, |
| |Nestande, Pan, | |Wagner |
| |V. Manuel Pérez, Silva, | | |
| |Smyth, Williams | | |
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| | |
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SUMMARY : Permits the California Department of Public Health
(DPH) to modify the list of communicable diseases and conditions
for which clinical labs must submit specimens to the local
public health laboratory to undergo further testing and allows
DPH to modify the list at any time in consultation with the
California Conference of Local Health Officers (CCLHO) and the
California Association of Public Health Laboratory Directors
(CAPHLD). Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding the need
to enable prompt identification of an outbreak, sends positive
specimens to the public health laboratory for identification,
and enables DPH to include newly emerging diseases and
conditions in a timely manner.
2)Requires DPH to establish a list of communicable diseases and
conditions for which clinical laboratories shall submit a
culture or a specimen to the local public health laboratory to
undergo further study.
3)Permits DPH to modify the list at any time, after consultation
with the CCLHO and the CAPHLD, without being subject to
California's Administrative Procedures Act (APA), which
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governs the adoption of regulations, but requires that DPH
file the revised list with the Secretary of State for
publication in the California Code of Regulations (CCR).
4)Exempts clinical labs and personnel that fail to submit
cultures or specimens for mandatory diseases from civil and
criminal penalties, unless the requirement has been noticed by
DPH for at least six months in the CCR, and DPH notified the
lab or personnel of the requirement at least six months prior
to the date of the claimed failure to report or submit.
5)Deletes specific diseases that are enumerated in law as
mandatory reportable diseases, thereby allowing DPH to
reconstitute the list in consultation with CCLHO.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires DPH to establish a list of diseases and conditions
which health care providers and local health officers are
required to report to the local public health department.
Allows DPH to modify this list and exempts this modification
from requirements, governing changes in administrative
regulations under APA.
2)Under regulation, requires labs to report test results on
certain diseases considered to be of "public health
importance."
3)Does not exempt DPH from complying with APA requirements when
modifying the list of reportable diseases and conditions for
which public health labs are required to submit specimens.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill would have minor absorbable costs to the
DPH to establish and modify the list of required specimens.
COMMENTS : According to the author, technology is not currently
available in California public health laboratories for different
sub-typing techniques, such as DNA fingerprinting, that can be
used to identify clusters of various organisms that cause
illness. The author states that use of this specialized testing
can help identify outbreaks and sources of outbreaks so they can
be mitigated, and for this to be an effective public health
tool, the public health laboratory needs to obtain the necessary
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specimens from all sources in order to be able to quickly
identify the organisms causing illnesses and compare the
subtypes, thus allowing a timely public health response. The
author contends that by allowing DPH to quickly add conditions
to the list of diseases for which clinical laboratories must
submit specimens, this bill may save lives during an emergency.
The list of communicable diseases and conditions for which
laboratories must submit cultures is established by regulation,
and adding or deleting a disease or condition requires an
administrative regulation change under APA. The APA was
intended to ensure transparency and full public participation
when agencies change their regulations. The APA does permit
adoption of emergency regulations, but requires a five-day
public notice, and emergency regulations can only remain in
effect for up to 180 days. According to the sponsor, Health
Officers Association of California (HOAC), it could take one and
one-half to two years for DPH to update the list of reportable
diseases, whereas under this bill, it could take as little as
two months.
HOAC writes in support of this bill that public health
laboratories are the front line in the war against disease
outbreaks. These labs can quickly identify sub-types of
contaminants, such as E. coli, so that a common source outbreak
can be identified and investigated. HOAC further states that
public health laboratories can also examine avian flu isolates
for strain typing to determine their potential to result in a
human pandemic. HOAC contends that this bill will enable public
health laboratories to better protect all Californians during
the outbreak of a dangerous disease.
Analysis Prepared by : Melanie Moreno / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097
FN: 0000196