BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1329
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 26, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
William W. Monning, Chair
AB 1329 (Davis) - As Introduced: February 18, 2011
SUBJECT : Ken Maddy California Cancer Registry.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Public Health
(DPH) to establish a process to receive applications for and
award a grant to an agency to operate the statewide Ken Maddy
California Cancer Registry (CCR). Requires DPH to issue grants
to other agencies, as specified, for the purposes of collecting
and collating cancer incidence data.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Ken Maddy CCR, through which DPH is required
to conduct a program of epidemiological assessments of the
incidence of cancer.
2)Requires DPH to establish a statewide system for the
collection of information determining the incidence of cancer
using both population-based cancer registries and regional
cancer incidence reporting.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not yet been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL . According to the author and sponsors of
this bill, the Public Health Institute (PHI) and the
University of Southern California (USC), the current DPH state
contract to administer the CCR expires on June 30, 2012. The
issuance of the contract to administer the CCR has
historically been through a competitive bid process. The
author and sponsors maintain that DPH program officials have
stated that permission to re-bid the contract has apparently
been denied by the Department of General Services, despite the
fact that DPH has used competitive contracts to administer the
CCR for over 25 years. The author and sponsors argue that, if
DPH cannot re-bid the contract to administer the CCR, its
functions will be disrupted and federal funding could be
jeopardized. The author and sponsors further argue that the
existing structure of CCR has been successful as it has
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leveraged a public/private partnership between the state, the
federal government, non-profits and universities in California
to build one of the world's premier cancer registries.
According to the author and sponsors, this bill would remedy
the current administrative obstacle by allowing DPH the
flexibility to maintain the competitive granting process which
will protect the flow of federal dollars and the integrity of
the operations of the highly successful CCR.
2)CCR . CCR is a collaborative effort among DPH's Cancer
Surveillance and Research Branch, non-profit research
entities, regional registries, health care providers, cancer
registrants, and cancer researchers throughout California and
the nation. Since its inception in 1985, the CCR has
collected, analyzed, and disseminated information on cancer
incidence and mortality. The statewide population-based
cancer surveillance system monitors the incidence and
mortality of specific cancers over time and analyzes different
cancer risks, cancer by geographic region, age,
race/ethnicity, sex, and other social characteristics of the
population.
DPH contracts with a central registry, currently PHI, and sub
contracts with regional registries. County-level data are
made available to health departments, hospitals, and the
public. The regional registries link CCR data to the national
cancer data system, support nonprofit organizations that
advocate for cancer treatment and prevention, and support
public awareness and patient education. The CCR database also
provides information regarding the causes of cancer and
treatment methods. The CCR contains over 2.5 million cancer
cases. It is the largest cancer registry in the world and
contains more than 50% of the cancer cases that are tracked by
the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology,
and End Results (SEER) Program.
The California General Fund is providing $8.8 million in fiscal
year (FY) 2010-11 for the state contract to provide partial
support for state-level CCR functions, the statewide cancer
registry system, and a portion of the data collection costs
incurred in the regional registries. Federal funding is
essential to the success of the CCR. The majority of the
funding to support the statewide registry enterprise comes
from grants and contracts currently awarded to the regional
registries with consent from the state by the federal SEER
program and the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention's (CDC) National Program of Cancer Registries.
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Current federal awards include $1.7 million for FY 2010-11 in
three seven- year awards totaling over $50 million from the
SEER Program going to California on the basis of federal cost
share awards and $3.8 million for FY 2010-11 in a three-plus
year award from CDC.
3)SUPPORT . PHI, USC, and the Cancer Prevention Institute of
California all write in support of this bill that in a society
as diverse as California, the CCR plays a critical role in
analyzing geographic, ethnic, socio-economic, and other
differences that indicate risk factors for cancer. The CCR
harnesses the power of large numbers, i.e., an unbiased sample
large enough for disease patterns that may be invisible to
individual clinicians to be identified through statistical
methods. Supporters emphasize that cancer has grown to become
an urgent problem in California; one in two Californians now
will experience cancer at some point in their lives.
Supporters maintain that, through the CCR, scientists are able
to investigate who gets cancer and why, and using this
information can develop cancer prevention programs and
policies for use as health care resources for California's
diverse population. Additional supporters including the
California Health Collaborative, City of Hope, and Desert
Sierra Cancer Surveillance all argue that this bill protects
and strengthens the CCR infrastructure for the long-term,
helps to protect millions of federal funding dollars, and
provides an immediate solution to resolve the current
administrative difficulties impacting CCR operations.
4)PREVIOUS LEGISLATION .
a) AB 48 (Cedillo), Chapter 368, Statutes of 2000, renames
the California Cancer Registry to the Ken Maddy California
Cancer Registry, after the late state Senator Kenneth
Maddy, former Minority Leader of the State Senate.
b) AB 136 (Connelly), Chapter 841, Statutes of 1985,
established the California Cancer Registry.
5)SUGGESTED TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS .
a) On page 2, line 19 delete "shall" and insert "may" (to
remove any concerns about a possible mandate); and,
AB 1329
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b) On page 2, line 20 insert the word "competitive" before
the word 'process' to better describe the granting Request
for Proposal process:
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Public Health Institute (cosponsor)
University of Southern California (cosponsor)
California Health Collaborative
California Prevention Institute of California
City of Hope
Desert Sierra Cancer Surveillance Program
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Tanya Robinson-Taylor / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097