BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1793 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 25, 2012 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 1793 (Yamada) - As Introduced: February 21, 2012 Policy Committee: HealthVote:19-0 Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No SUMMARY This bill adds long-term care (LTC) facilities to the list of entities eligible to receive federal funding allocated for the prevention of, and response to, public health emergencies, and deletes an inoperative date of September 1, 2012 for the statute authorizing distribution of this funding. FISCAL EFFECT Negligible state fiscal impact. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . The author states that this bill is needed to clarify that LTC facilities are eligible to receive federal emergency preparedness funds. Current state law defines certain eligible facilities, including local health jurisdictions, hospitals, clinics, emergency medical systems, and poison control centers. Since the time the original statute governing distribution of these federal funds was passed, best practices have identified the inclusion of LTC facilities as an important piece of the health care emergency preparedness and response continuum. 2)Background . The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary for Preparedness and Response and the Center for Disease Control awards grants to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to allocate to health care facilities for emergency preparedness and response, pursuant to a federally approved collaborative state-local plan. According to the California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF), the sponsor of this bill, although LTC facilities had previously AB 1793 Page 2 received emergency preparedness funding from CDPH, in 2011 they were informed that new DPH legal counsel had taken a different interpretation of existing law. They concluded that LTC facilities are not included in the eligible group to receive federal emergency preparedness and response funds. 3)Urgency . This bill states an urgency clause is necessary in order to ensure prevent the lapse of provisions relating to the allocation and expenditure of federal emergency preparedness funds. Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081