BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 502| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: SB 502 Author: Pavley (D) and De León (D), et al. Amended: 4/25/11 Vote: 21 SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 5-1, 4/13/11 AYES: Hernandez, Alquist, De León, DeSaulnier, Rubio NOES: Anderson NO VOTE RECORDED: Strickland, Blakeslee, Wolk SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 SUBJECT : Hospital Infant Feeding Act SOURCE : California WIC Association DIGEST : This bill establishes the Hospital Infant Feeding Act which will require all general acute care and special hospitals that have a perinatal unit to have an infant-feeding policy and to clearly post that policy. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Establishes the Maternal Child and Adolescent Health (MCAH) program, administered by the Department of Public Health (DPH), which monitors and reports infant feeding data. CONTINUED SB 502 Page 2 2. Requires DPH to recommend training for general acute care hospitals and special hospitals that is intended to improve breast-feeding rates among mothers and infants. 3. Establishes, under MCAH, the program "Birth and Beyond California" which utilizes quality improvement methods and training to implement evidence-based policies and practices that support breastfeeding within the maternity care setting. 4. Establishes the Women, Infants and Children program (WIC), administered by the DPH to provide nutritional food supplements to low-income pregnant women, low-income postpartum and lactating women, and low-income infants and children under five years of age, who have been determined to be at nutritional risk. 5. Establishes the "Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Program" at local agency WIC sites to increase the rate of breastfeeding for WIC participants. 6. Establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), which provides comprehensive health benefits to low-income children, their parents or caretaker relatives, pregnant women, elderly, blind or disabled persons, and nursing home residents who meet specified eligibility criteria. 7. Covers, as part of the Medi-Cal durable medical equipment (DME) benefit, the rental or purchase of breast pumps for pregnant and postpartum women, subject to medical necessity. 8. Defines a general acute care hospital as a health facility having a duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and professional responsibility and an organized medical staff that provides 24-hour inpatient care, including the following basic services: medical, nursing, surgical, anesthesia, laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, and dietary services. 9. Defines special hospitals as a health facility having a duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and professional responsibility and an CONTINUED SB 502 Page 3 organized medical or dental staff that provides inpatient or outpatient care in dentistry or maternity. This bill: 1. Makes several legislative declarations, including a declaration that the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to encourage and recognize hospitals that offer an optimal level of care for infant feeding. 2. Establishes the Hospital Infant Feeding Act. 3. Requires all general acute care hospitals and special hospitals that have a perinatal unit to have an infant-feeding policy and to clearly post that policy. 4. Provides that the infant-feeding policy may include guidelines provided by the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative or the State Department of Public Health Model Hospital Policy recommendations. 5. Requires the infant-feeding policy be routinely communicated to all perinatal staff. 6. Requires the infant-feeding policy apply to all infants in the perinatal unit. 7. Defines "perinatal unit" to be a maternity and newborn service of the hospital for the provision of care during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum and neonatal periods with appropriate staff, space, equipment, and supplies. 8. Defines "Baby-Friendly Hospitals" to be facilities that have been awarded accreditation by Baby-Friendly USA, the national authority for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative sponsored by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund. 9. Defines "Model Hospital Policy Recommendations" to be the most recently updated guidelines approved and published by DPH entitled, "Providing Breastfeeding CONTINUED SB 502 Page 4 Support: Model Hospital Policy Recommendations." 10.Takes effect January 1, 2014. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 5/2/11) California WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Association (source) American Congress of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, District IX (California) Antelope Valley Hospital WIC Program American Red Cross WIC Program Babies First Breastfeeding Task Force Fresno County Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles Butte County WIC California Breastfeeding Coalition California Center for Rural Policy California Food Policy Advocates Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula Community Medical Centers, Inc. County of Napa WIC Program First 5 Fresno County First 5 LA Kern County Breastfeeding Coalition Monterey County Coalition Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Mono County WIC Native American Heath Center WIC Program Northeast Valley Health Corporation Orange County Breastfeeding Coalition Planned Parenthood WIC Public Health Foundation Enterprises, Inc. WIC Program Sacred Birth Services San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition Solano County Health and Social Services WIC Program Tulare County Breastfeeding Coalition ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Supporters contend that many mothers have every intention of providing their baby the best by having the desire to breastfeed. However, many hospitals unfortunately do not provide sufficient training to their staff nor have in place policies that support CONTINUED SB 502 Page 5 their patients' desire to breastfeed successfully. The California WIC Association, the bill's sponsor, writes that this is a modest approach to help increase the exclusive breastfeeding rates in California hospitals while giving the maternity hospitals a reasonable amount of time to develop their infant feeding policies and educate their perinatal unit staff. CTW:mw 5/2/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED