Amended in Assembly March 19, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 175

Introduced by Assembly Member V. Manuel Pérez

January 24, 2013

begin delete An act relating to vehicles. end delete begin insert An act to add Section 124557 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to health care coverage end insert begin insert . end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 175, as amended, V. Manuel Pérez. begin delete Vehicles: towing and impoundment: unlicensed drivers. end delete begin insert Health care coverage. end insert

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Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to maintain a program for seasonal agricultural and migratory workers and their families that includes technical and financial assistance to local agencies concerned with the health of seasonal agricultural and migratory workers and their families in coordination with similar programs of the federal government, other states, and voluntary agencies, and to grant funds to eligible private, nonprofit, community-based primary care clinics for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a health services program for seasonal agricultural and migratory workers and their families. Existing federal law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), enacts various health care coverage market reforms that take effect January 1, 2014.

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This bill would establish the Uncovered Health Trust Fund for the purpose of providing health care coverage to workers ineligible for health care coverage under federal and state programs, including the PPACA. This bill would authorize voluntary contributions to be deposited into the trust.

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The bill would require that trust moneys, as specified, be distributed by the Primary Health Care Services Branch of the department through its Rural Health Clinic Program. The bill would require the department to publish a list of employers who contributed to the trust and make that list available to nonprofit community health centers. The bill would also require the department to provide those employers with a list of nonprofit community health centers accessible to workers.

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This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2015, to prepare an application form, as specified, for nonprofit community health centers to use to apply for moneys from the trust. The bill would require a nonprofit community center applying for trust moneys to submit the application to the department. The bill would require the department to distribute trust moneys according to specified criteria. The bill would require nonprofit community health centers to utilize mobile medical units and provide transportation to workers who reside or are employed in geographical areas that make access to clinic sites difficult.

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This bill would require that the costs to the department of administering the trust be provided from the trust, and would prohibit these costs from exceeding 10% of the total trust moneys.

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Existing law authorizes a peace officer to impound for 30 days a vehicle driven by a person who had never been issued a driver’s license. Existing law subjects to forfeiture, and requires the impoundment of, a vehicle driven by an unlicensed driver who is a registered owner of the vehicle and who has a previous misdemeanor conviction of operating a vehicle without a driver’s license.

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This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to prohibit a peace officer from impounding a vehicle solely on the basis that the driver is unlicensed.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  begin delete no end delete begin insert yes end insert . State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

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begin insert The Legislature hereby finds and declares the
following: end insert

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(a) An analysis of data collected by the United States
government in March 2008, about insurance coverage in the prior
calendar year, found that 33.2 percent of all immigrants did not
have health insurance compared to 12.7 percent of native-born
Americans.

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(b) Immigrants account for 27.1 percent of all those without
health insurance. Immigrants are 12.5 percent of the nation’s total
population.

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(c) Lack of health insurance is a significant problem, even for
long-time immigrant residents. Among immigrants who arrived
in the country in the 1980s, 28.7 percent lacked health insurance
in 2007.

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(d) The high level of uninsured amongst the immigrant
population means that they often have jobs that do not provide
insurance while their low incomes make private insurance too
expensive.

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(e) California is home to almost one-third of all immigrants in
the United States.

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(f) Many of these immigrants are much more likely to work in
small business, agriculture, labor, cleaning or repair, and sales,
technology, and administration industries.

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(g) In 2010, 7 million individuals or 21.5 percent of California’s
population was uninsured, with adults comprising 86 percent of
the uninsured.

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(h) Based on an analysis by the University of California, Los
Angeles, Center for Health Policy Research, the federal Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), will reduce
California’s eligible uninsured population to 2.72 million by 2019.

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(i) A report by the Central Coast Health Network in 2012 found
that between 300,000 and 1 million farm workers in California
will remain uninsured under the PPACA because of their
ineligibility to participate in the program and their lack of sufficient
income.

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(j) Based on the annual income earned by many workers in
small business, agriculture, restaurants, sales, and service
industries in California, these workers will not be covered by the
PPACA and expansion of Medicaid.

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begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

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begin insert Section 124557 is added to the end insert begin insert Health and Safety Code end insert begin insert ,
to read: end insert

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begin insert 124557. end insert   

(a) The following definitions apply for purposes of
this section:

(1) “Contributing employer” means a person who employs an
individual who is ineligible to receive health care coverage under
state or federal programs and contributes money to the Uncovered
Worker Health Trust Fund.

(2) “Trust” means the Uncovered Worker Health Trust Fund.

(3) “Uncovered worker” means an individual who is ineligible
to receive health care coverage under state or federal programs
and is working in the state for an employer who contributes money
to the Uncovered Worker Health Trust Fund.

(b) There is hereby created the Uncovered Worker Health Trust
Fund for the purpose of providing comprehensive health insurance
coverage to uncovered workers. Voluntary contributions may be
deposited into the trust from the following sources:

(1) Private donors.

(2) Charitable and philanthropic organizations.

(3) Contributing employers.

(c) The department shall, on or before January 1, 2015, prepare
and make available an application form for nonprofit community
health centers to use in requesting moneys from the trust. The
department shall include in the application form a memorandum
of understanding that contains space for the following information,
in addition to any other data the department deems relevant:

(1) The name of the contributing employer.

(2) The number of uncovered workers that will be employed by
the contributing employer.

(3) The length of time that uncovered workers will be employed
by the contributing employer and the time that those workers will
continue to require health care services.

(4) The estimated cost of providing health care services to the
contributing employer’s uncovered workers.

(d) Nonprofit community health centers applying for moneys
from the trust shall submit the application to the department.

(e) Moneys from the trust shall be allocated to participating
nonprofit community health centers no later than July 1, 2015,
unless the department determines that the trust has an insufficient
balance to carry out the requirements of this section, in which case
the department may delay implementation until the trust has a
balance of one million dollars ($1,000,000) or more.

(1) The Primary Health Care Services Branch of the department,
through its Rural Health Clinic Program, shall distribute moneys
from the trust to nonprofit community health centers to provide
comprehensive primary health care services, including mental
health and dental care, to uncovered workers.

(2) The department shall allocate moneys from the trust to
nonprofit community health centers based on the number of
uncovered workers to be served, the length of time the uncovered
worker will be employed by the contributing employer,
geographical location, and any other criteria developed by the
department in consultation with contributing employers and
nonprofit community health centers.

(f) (1) The department shall publish a list of contributing
employers and shall make that list available to nonprofit
community health centers that serve uncovered workers.

(2) The department shall publish a list of nonprofit community
clinics located in the proximity of, and accessible to, uncovered
workers and shall provide that list to contributing employers.

(g) Nonprofit community health centers shall utilize mobile
medical units or provide transportation to uncovered workers who
reside or are employed in geographical areas that make access to
clinic sites difficult.

(h) The cost to the department of administering the trust shall
be provided from the trust. Administrative costs shall not exceed
10 percent of the total moneys in the trust.

(i) Nothing in this act shall detract, impede, or violate any
provision of the PPACA.

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SECTION 1.  

It is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to prohibit a peace officer from impounding a vehicle
solely on the basis that the driver is unlicensed.

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