BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    ACR 128


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          Date of Hearing:  August 4, 2016 


                             ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES


                              Richard S. Gordon, Chair


          ACR  
                        128 (Brown) - As Amended  June 27, 2016


          SUBJECT:  Sickle Cell Anemia Awareness Month


          SUMMARY:  Recognizes the month of September 2016 as Sickle Cell  
          Anemia Awareness Month.  Specifically, this resolution makes the  
          following legislative findings: 


          1)Sickle cell anemia and sickle cell disease refer to a group of  
            inherited disorders that affect red blood cells causing the  
            person's body to produce abnormally shaped red blood cells  
            that resemble a crescent or sickle of which do not last as  
            long as round blood cells, causing anemia.

          2)It is estimated that more than 90,000 Americans have sickle  
            cell anemia; one in every 500 African Americans and one in  
            every 36,000 Latino births are affected.

          3)Sickle cell anemia can be a life-threatening condition, and  
            access to comprehensive care can be limited by social,  
            economic, cultural, and geographic barriers; and the average  
            cost of hospitalization for sickle cell anemia in 2004 was  
            $6,223 and the total cost for 84,000 hospital admissions was  
            $488,000,000; of which 65 percent was covered by Medicaid  
            funds.

          4)In 1972, the Sickle Cell Anemia Control Act was signed into  
            law by President Richard Nixon after pledging that his  
            administration would "reverse the record of neglect of the  








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            dreaded disease" by increasing funding for and expanding  
            sickle cell anemia-related programs, including the development  
            of comprehensive sickle cell anemia centers.

          5)A potentially groundbreaking investigational drug, GMI 1070,  
            designed to treat painful vaso-occlusive crises, which occur  
            when red blood cells lump together and impede blood flow in  
            sickle cell patients, has been found to be safe following  
            clinical trials at the University of California, Davis.

          FISCAL EFFECT:  None


          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:


          Support


          None on file


          Opposition
          None on file


          Analysis Prepared by:Nicole Willis / RLS. / (916) 319-2800