BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 980
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 980 (Pan)
As Amended September 5, 2013
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |47-21|(May 24, 2013) |SENATE: |25-12|(September 9, |
| | | | | |2013) |
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Original Committee Reference: B.,P. & C.P.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Building Standards Commission
(CBSC), in conjunction with the Office of Statewide Health Planning
and Development (OSHPD), to repeal certain regulations and sections
of the California Building Standards Code that treat primary clinics
differently depending on whether the clinics provide abortion
services.
The Senate amendments delete the prior version of the bill, and
instead:
1)Declare the intent of the Legislature that all primary care
clinics, including primary care clinics that provide abortion
services, be subject to the same licensing and building standards.
2)Declare the intent of the Legislature to render unenforceable
Section 1226.7 of the 2013 Triennial Edition of the California
Building Standards Code, and states the intention of the
Legislature that the public agencies with authority to enforce
those sections of code not enforce them.
3)Require CBSC, in conjunction with OSHPD, to repeal Section 1226.7
of the 2013 Triennial Edition of the California Building Standards
Code, including all cross-references to that section, as soon as
possible.
4)Require CBSC, in conjunction with OSHPD, to repeal those sections
of the 2013 Triennial Edition of the California Plumbing Code
pertaining to licensed clinics that were approved by CBSC on April
24, 2013.
5)Requires the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to
repeal by July 1, 2014, the regulations relating to abortion
services in primary care clinics contained in Article 5
AB 980
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(commencing with Section 75040) of Chapter 7 of Division 5 of
Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.
6)Grant OSHPD emergency regulatory authority to implement the
provisions of this bill.
7)Declare that the regulations adopted pursuant to this bill shall
become permanent without further regulatory action.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee,
this bill would have minor costs to the CBSC and OSHPD to develop
and adopt emergency regulations, as well as one-time costs of about
$130,000 per year for two years for CDPH to review and revise any
existing regulations that may be in conflict with the requirements
of the bill.
COMMENTS :
1)Understanding the building standards code cycle and rulemaking
process . CBSC is responsible for administering California's
building codes. The CBSC publishes the code every three years,
and supplements to the code in intervening years. Building
regulations and standards take effect 180 days after their
publication unless otherwise stated.
OSHPD promulgates building standard regulations related to the
construction of licensed clinics and outpatient clinical services
of a hospital in non-hospital buildings under the jurisdiction of
local building departments. OSHPD also develops building
standards that have specific construction requirements for primary
care clinics providing abortion services based on CDPH regulations
prescribing general space requirements for clinics.
2)Understanding the OSHPD exemption for primary care clinics .
During the process of updating the building standards code for the
2013 edition, OSHPD proposed a new subcategory of clinics that
would be exempt from certain requirements that applied to other
clinics. Clinics are referred to in the building codes as OSHPD 3
facilities, and this new exempted subcategory is called OSHPD 3SE.
The OSHPD 3SE classification consists of primary care clinics
providing services that must meet requirements described in
Section 1226.6 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations
(clinics that are without treatment rooms and that perform
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procedures in examination rooms), as well as rehabilitation
clinics and psychology clinics. Clinics performing abortions must
meet additional requirements described in Section 1226.7 of Title
24, which requires these clinics to have treatment rooms, as well
as other space requirements based on Title 22 regulatory
requirements described in existing law above. However, Section
1226.7 specifically permits treatment rooms for aspiration
abortion to be sized as examination rooms. The OSHPD 3SE exemption
does not apply to clinics that are required to comply with Section
1226.7.
By eliminating Section 1226.7, with its additional requirements for
abortion services, the author's intent is that those primary care
clinics performing medication and aspiration abortion services
would be treated the same as other primary care clinics, and would
fall under the 3SE exemption.
Analysis Prepared by : Sarah Huchel / B., P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301
FN: 0002734