Amended in Assembly June 11, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1428


Introduced by Assembly Member Conway

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bigelow, Dahle, Hagman, Harkey, Morrell, Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, and Wilk)

April 30, 2013


An act to add Sectionbegin delete 100523end deletebegin insert 1043end insert to the Government Code, relating to health care coverage, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1428, as amended, Conway. California Health Benefit Exchange: employees and contractors.

Under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), each state is required, by January 1, 2014, to establish an American Health Benefit Exchange that makes available qualified health plans to qualified individuals and small employers. Existing state law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) within state government, specifies the powers and duties of the board governing the Exchange, and requires the board to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers by January 1, 2014. Existing law requires the board to employ necessary staff and authorizes the board to enter into contracts.

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This bill would require all employees, prospective employees, contractors, subcontractors, and vendors, who facilitate enrollment of persons in a qualified health plan in the Exchange and who, in the course and scope of their employment, have access to the financial or medical information of enrollees or potential enrollees, to be fingerprinted, at appropriate locations determined by the board, for the purpose of obtaining criminal history information. The bill would prohibit a person who has been convicted of felony crimes of dishonesty or breach of trust in a state or federal jurisdiction or other specified crimes from being hired by or contracting with the Exchange for the purpose of facilitating enrollment of persons in a qualified health plan in the Exchange or for any position where, in the course and scope of his or her employment, he or she will have access to the financial or medical information of enrollees or potential enrollees of the Exchange. The bill would also require an applicant to notify the Exchange of any prescribed misdemeanor or felony convictions, filing of charges, or administrative actions.

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This bill would require the board, consistent with specified federal standards, to submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information of all employees, prospective employees, contractors, subcontractors, volunteers, or vendors, whose duties include or would include access to specified information, for the purposes of obtaining prescribed criminal history information. The bill would require the board to require any services contract, interagency agreement, or public entity agreement that includes or would include access to the specified information to include a provision requiring the contractor to agree to criminal background checks on its employees, contractors, agents, or subcontractors who will have access to that information as part of their services contract, interagency agreement, or public entity agreement. The bill would require the department to forward to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) requests for federal summary criminal history information, and would require the department to review the information returned from the FBI and compile and disseminate a response to the board. The bill would require the department to charge a fee sufficient to cover the costs of processing requests pursuant to the bill.

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This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: 23. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

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

P3    1begin insert

begin insertSECTION 1.end insert  

end insert

begin insertSection 1043 is added to the end insertbegin insertGovernment Codeend insertbegin insert,
2to read:end insert

begin insert
3

begin insert1043.end insert  

(a) (1) The executive board of the California Health
4Benefit Exchange, as established by Section 100500, shall,
5consistent with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
6(CMS), Catalog of Minimum Acceptable Risk Standards for
7Exchanges (MARS-E), Exchange Reference Architecture
8Supplement version 1.0, issued on August 12, 2012, or further
9updates, guidance, or regulations, submit to the Department of
10Justice fingerprint images and related information required by the
11Department of Justice of all employees, prospective employees,
12contractors, subcontractors, volunteers, or vendors whose duties
13include or would include access to any information contained in
14the information systems and devices of the Exchange, including,
15but not limited to, confidential information, personal identifying
16information, personal health information, federal tax information,
17or financial information, or for the purposes of obtaining
18information as to the existence and content of a record of state or
19federal convictions and also information as to the existence and
20content of a record of state or federal arrests for which the
21Department of Justice establishes that the person is free on bail
22or on his or her recognizance pending trial or appeal.

23(2) The board shall require any services contract, interagency
24agreement, or public entity agreement that includes or would
25include access to information described in paragraph (1), and
26entered into, renewed, or amended on or after the effective date
27of this section, to include a provision requiring the contractor to
28agree to criminal background checks on its employees, contractors,
29agents, or subcontractors who will have access to information
30described in paragraph (1) as part of their services contract,
31interagency agreement, or public entity agreement with the board.

32(b) The Department of Justice shall forward to the Federal
33Bureau of Investigation requests for federal summary criminal
34history information received pursuant to paragraph (1) of
35subdivision (a). The Department of Justice shall review the
36information returned from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
37and compile and disseminate a response to the board.

P4    1(c) The Department of Justice shall provide a state or federal
2level response to the board pursuant to subdivision (p) of Section
311105 of the Penal Code.

4(d) The board shall request from the Department of Justice
5subsequent notification service, as provided pursuant to Section
611105.2 of the Penal Code, for persons listed in paragraph (1) of
7subdivision (a).

8(e) The Department of Justice shall charge a fee sufficient to
9cover the cost of processing requests pursuant to this section.

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10

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
11following:

12(a) The mission of the California Health Benefit Exchange
13(Exchange) is to increase the number of insured Californians.

14(b) According to the Exchange, the Assisters Program is
15designed to target populations in California’s vast, geographically
16diverse mix of rural and urban communities, estimated at 4,000,000
17eligible individuals: one hundred thousand in northern California
18and Sierra counties, 130,000 in the Sacramento area, 390,000 in
19the greater Bay Area, 250,000 in the San Joaquin Valley, 140,000
20in the central coast, 780,000 in Los Angeles, and another 750,000
21in southern California.

22(c) According to the Exchange, the Assisters Program is
23designed to target populations within the estimated 4,000,000
24eligible individuals that are ethnically diverse: 1,880,000 estimated
25to be Hispanic, 1,340,000 Caucasian, 470,000 Asian, and 210,000
26African American.

27(d) According to the Exchange, the Assisters Program will
28conduct outreach, education, marketing, and enrollment for the
29Exchange to reach the estimated 4,000,000 eligible individuals.

30(e) The Assisters Program is expected to promote maximum
31enrollment of individuals into coverage and ensure that assisters
32are knowledgeable of both subsidized and nonsubsidized health
33care coverage and qualified health plans and are equipped with
34the information and expertise needed to successfully enroll
35individuals into coverage.

36(f) The Exchange will use individual assisters, in-person
37assisters, and navigators in the Assisters Program to accomplish
38these goals.

39(g) Individual assisters, in-person assisters, and navigators will,
40necessarily, have access to eligible individuals’ personal identifying
P5    1information, including social security numbers, personal health
2information, and state and federal tax information, to enroll over
34,000,000 Californians in health insurance programs.

4(h) Agents and brokers, health insurers, and other entities that
5currently handle applications for health care coverage and the
6applicant’s sensitive, personal information are required to be
7licensed by the Department of Insurance.

8(i) The Department of Insurance, by law, is authorized to require
9 applicants for licensure to pass background checks, including
10fingerprinting, as a condition of licensure.

11(j) It is in the public’s interest that eligible individuals
12purchasing health care coverage through the services of an
13individual assister, in-person assister, or navigator have the same
14reasonable expectation of privacy protections afforded to
15Californians purchasing health care coverage through a private
16agent or broker.

17(k) To advance the public’s interest in protecting and
18safeguarding eligible individuals from the unauthorized and illegal
19access to, or disclosure of, their personal identifying information,
20personal health information, or federal tax information when the
21Exchange begins enrolling customers into health care plans for
22coverage beginning as early as January 1, 2014.

23

SEC. 2.  

Section 100523 is added to the Government Code, to
24read:

25

100523.  

(a) The board shall require all employees, prospective
26employees, contractors, subcontractors, and vendors, who facilitate
27enrollment of persons in a qualified health plan in the Exchange
28and who, in the course and scope of their employment, have access
29to the financial or medical information of enrollees or potential
30enrollees of the Exchange, to be fingerprinted, at appropriate
31locations determined by the board, for the purpose of obtaining
32criminal history information.

33(b) A person who has been convicted of any felony crimes of
34dishonesty or breach of trust in a state or federal jurisdiction, who
35has been convicted of any violation of Section 1033 of Title 18 of
36the United States Code, or who has been convicted of any crime
37included in Section 2183.2 of Title 10 of the California Code of
38Regulations shall not be hired by or contract with the Exchange
39for the purpose of facilitating enrollment of persons in a qualified
40health plan in the Exchange or for any position where, in the course
P6    1and scope of his or her employment, he or she will have access to
2the financial or medical information of enrollees or potential
3enrollees of the Exchange.

4(c) A person who has applied for employment with the Exchange
5for any position where, in the course and scope of his or her
6employment, he or she will have access to the financial or medical
7information of enrollees or potential enrollees of the Exchange
8shall immediately notify the Exchange upon any misdemeanor or
9felony conviction, any filing of felony charges in state or federal
10court, any administrative action regarding a professional or
11occupational license, or any conviction listed in subdivision (b),
12if the action occurs after an application has been submitted.

end delete
13

begin deleteSEC. 3.end delete
14begin insertSEC. 2.end insert  

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
15immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
16the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
17immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

18In order to protect and safeguard customers from the
19unauthorized and illegal access to, or disclosure of, their personal
20identifying information, personal health information, or federal
21tax information when the California Health Benefit Exchange
22begins enrolling customers into health care plans for coverage
23beginning as early as January 1, 2014, it is necessary that this act
24take effect immediately.



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