BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 669
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 21, 2013

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

                      SB 669 (Huff) - As Amended:  July 3, 2013 

          Policy Committee:                             Business and  
          Professions  Vote:                            13-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill permits a prehospital emergency medical care person,  
          first responder, or lay rescuer to obtain and use an epinephrine  
          auto-injector (EA) in emergency situations with certification of  
          training.  Specifically, this bill:

          1)Permits pharmacies to dispense EAs to certified persons under  
            certain conditions.

          2)Requires certified persons receiving EAs to track certain  
            information.

          3)Requires training providers to be approved, and the minimum  
            standards for training and the use and administration of EAs  
            to be established and approved, by the Emergency Medical  
            Services Authority (EMSA).  Specifies required content of a  
            training program.

          4)Includes liability protections for training providers and  
            persons who administer EA in good faith.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)One-time GF costs to EMSA of $500,000 over two years to  
            convene a task force, revise and create regulations related to  
            training standards, create an approval process for training  
            providers, and modify IT systems.

          2)Ongoing GF costs to EMSA of $200,000 to review and update  
            standards, and to approve training providers.









                                                                  SB 669
                                                                  Page  2

          3)This bill creates one-time and ongoing workload to EMSA, with  
            no authority to charge a fee to training programs and/or  
            certificate holders to cover program costs, putting pressure  
            on the GF to support program activities.  

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  This bill authorizes prehospital emergency medical  
            care personnel, first responders and lay rescuers to obtain  
            and use an EA in emergency situations after receiving  
            certification of training.  SB 669 is aimed at expanding the  
            use of EA's by authorizing additional qualified personnel to  
            use them and granting immunity from civil liability when used  
            properly.  This bill is sponsored by Conference of California  
            Bar Associations.

          2)Background  . Epinephrine is the first-line treatment for  
            life-threatening allergic reactions.  An auto-injector is  
            usually a type of easy-to-use spring-loaded syringe, intended  
            for self-administration by the patient or by untrained  
            personnel. In addition to certain licensed healthcare  
            professionals, AB 559 (Wiggins) Chapter 458, Statutes of 2001  
            permitted school nurses and other qualified persons to  
            administer an EA.  

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081