BILL NUMBER: AB 635	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 24, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 11, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Ammiano

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2013

   An act to amend Section 1714.22 of the Civil Code, relating to
drug overdose treatment.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 635, as amended, Ammiano. Drug overdose treatment: liability.
   Existing law authorizes a physician and surgeon to prescribe,
dispense, or administer prescription drugs, including
prescription-controlled substances, to an addict under his or her
treatment, as specified. Existing law prohibits, except in the
regular practice of his or her profession, any person from knowingly
prescribing, administering, dispensing, or furnishing a controlled
substance to or for any person who is not under his or her treatment
for a pathology or condition other than an addiction to a controlled
substance, except as specified.
   Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2016, and only in
specified counties, a licensed health care provider, who is already
permitted pursuant to existing law to prescribe an opioid antagonist,
as defined, and who is acting with reasonable care, to prescribe and
subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid antagonist in
conjunction with an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training
program, as defined, without being subject to civil liability or
criminal prosecution. Existing law requires a local health
jurisdiction that operates or registers an opioid overdose prevention
and treatment training program to collect prescribed data and report
it to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary by January 1,
2015.
   Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2016, and only in
specified counties, a person who is not licensed to administer an
opioid antagonist to do so in an emergency without fee if the person
has received specified training information and believes in good
faith that the other person is experiencing a drug overdose. Existing
law prohibits that person, as a result of his or her acts or
omissions, from being liable for any violation of any professional
licensing statute, or subject to any criminal prosecution arising
from or related to the unauthorized practice of medicine or the
possession of an opioid antagonist.
   This bill would revise and recast these provisions to instead
authorize a licensed health care provider who is permitted by law to
prescribe an opioid antagonist and is acting with reasonable care to
prescribe and subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid
antagonist for the treatment of an opioid overdose to a person at
risk of an opioid-related overdose or a family member, friend, or
other person in a position to assist a person at risk of an
opioid-related overdose. The bill would authorize these licensed
health care providers to issue standing orders for the distribution
of an opioid antagonist to a person at risk of an opioid-related
overdose or to a family member, friend, or other person in a position
to assist the person at risk. The bill would authorize these
licensed health care providers to issue standing orders for the
administration of an opioid antagonist by a family member, friend, or
other person in a position to assist a person experiencing or
suspected of experiencing an opioid overdose. The bill would provide
that a person who acts with reasonable care and issues a prescription
for, or an order for the administration of, an opioid antagonist to
a person experiencing or suspected of experiencing an opioid overdose
is not subject to professional review, liable in a civil action, or
subject to criminal prosecution for issuing the prescription or
order. The bill would also delete the repeal date and reporting
requirements and expand the applicability of these provisions
statewide.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1714.22 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
   1714.22.  (a) For purposes of this section, the following
definitions shall apply:
   (1) "Opioid antagonist" means naloxone hydrochloride that is
approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for the
treatment of an opioid overdose.
   (2) "Opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program"
means any program operated by a local health jurisdiction or that is
registered by a local health jurisdiction to train individuals to
prevent, recognize, and respond to an opiate overdose, and that
provides, at a minimum, training in all of the following:
   (A) The causes of an opiate overdose.
   (B) Mouth to mouth resuscitation.
   (C) How to contact appropriate emergency medical services.
   (D) How to administer an opioid antagonist.
   (b) A licensed health care provider who is authorized by law to
prescribe an opioid antagonist may, if acting with reasonable care,
prescribe and subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid
antagonist to a person at risk of an opioid-related overdose or to a
family member, friend, or other person in a position to assist a
person at risk of an opioid-related overdose.
   (c) (1) A licensed health care provider who is authorized by law
to prescribe an opioid antagonist may issue standing orders for the
distribution of an opioid antagonist to a person at risk of an
opioid-related overdose or to a family member, friend, or other
person in a position to assist a person at risk of an opioid-related
overdose.
   (2) A licensed health care provider who is authorized by law to
prescribe an opioid antagonist may issue standing orders for the
administration of an opioid antagonist to a person at risk of an
opioid-related overdose by a family member, friend, or other person
in a position to assist a person experiencing or reasonably suspected
of experiencing an opioid overdose.
   (d) A person who is prescribed an opioid antagonist or possesses
it pursuant to a standing order shall receive the training provided
by an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program.
   (e) A licensed health care provider who acts with reasonable care
shall not be subject to professional review, be  found
 liable in a civil action, or be subject to criminal
prosecution for issuing a prescription or order pursuant to
subdivision (b) or (c).
   (f) Notwithstanding any other law, a person who possesses or
distributes an opioid antagonist pursuant to a prescription or
standing order shall not be subject to professional review, be
 found  liable in a civil action, or be subject to
criminal prosecution for this possession or distribution.
Notwithstanding any other law, a person  who acts with
reasonable care and administers an opioid antagonist  
not otherwise licensed to administer an opioid antagonist, but
trained as required under subdivision (d), who acts with reasonable
care in administering an opioid antagonist, in good faith and not for
compensation,  to a person who is experiencing or is suspected
of experiencing an overdose shall not be subject to professional
review, be liable in a civil action, or be subject to criminal
prosecution for this administration.