BILL NUMBER: AB 775 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chiu
FEBRUARY 25, 2015
An act to amend Section 123375 add Article
2.7 (commencing with Section 123470) to Chapter 2 of Part 2 of
Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public
health.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 775, as amended, Chiu. Public health: maternal health.
Reproductive FACT Act.
Existing law, the Reproductive Privacy Act, provides that every
individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to
reproductive decisions. Existing law provides that the state shall
not deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose or obtain an
abortion prior to viability of the fetus, as defined, or when
necessary to protect her life or health. Existing law specifies the
circumstances under which the performance of an abortion is deemed
unauthorized.
This bill would enact the Reproductive FACT (Freedom,
Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency) Act, which
would require a licensed covered facility, as defined, to disseminate
a notice to all clients, as specified, stating, among other things,
that every pregnant woman has the right to decide whether to have a
child or to obtain abortion care. The bill would also require an
unlicensed covered facility, as defined, to disseminate a notice to
all clients, as specified, stating, among other things, that the
facility is not licensed as a medical facility by the State of
California.
The bill would authorize the Attorney General, city attorney, or
county counsel to bring an action to impose a specified civil penalty
against covered facilities that fail to comply with these
requirements. The bill would also require the Attorney General to
post on the Department of Justice's Internet Web site a list of the
covered facilities upon which a civil penalty has been imposed.
Existing law, with exceptions, prohibits a person from selling,
offering for sale, giving away, distributing, or otherwise furnishing
materials intended to determine the presence of pregnancy, unless
that person has obtained a certificate of acceptability from the
State Department of Public Health declaring that the materials have
been approved as to efficacy and safety by the department.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that
provision.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
that:
(a) Individuals possess a fundamental right of privacy with
respect to personal reproductive decisions under the California
Constitution and the Reproductive Privacy Act.
(b) All California residents, regardless of income, should have
access to reproductive health services. The state provides insurance
coverage of reproductive health care and counseling to eligible,
low-income residents. Some of these programs have been recently
established or expanded as a result of the federal Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act.
(c) More than 700,000 California women become pregnant every year.
Approximately half of these pregnancies are unintended. Thousands of
women do not know the legal options they have or funding resources
available to them for prenatal care, abortion, or delivery when they
learn they are pregnant.
(d) Because California's Medi-Cal program finances over 50 percent
of in-state hospital births, California has a vested interest in
ensuring that women are knowledgeable about their options and access
to prenatal care as early as possible. Women who receive prenatal
care later in pregnancy are at higher risk for having a preterm or
low-birth weight infant and having an infant requiring care in an
intensive care unit. Infants born at low-birth weight are at
increased risk for life-long and disabling health conditions. Their
hospital costs are also substantially higher than for normal birth
weight infants. Infants who are born premature are at increased risk
for death and life-long disabling conditions, including hearing and
vision loss, respiratory problems, mental retardation, and cerebral
palsy.
(e) California's public policy supporting reproductive health is
undermined if residents do not know their rights and the programs
available to exercise their reproductive options. Because pregnancy
decisions are time sensitive, and care early in pregnancy is
important, California must supplement its own efforts to advise
residents of its reproductive health programs with information at the
community clinics where the majority of residents who are eligible
for these public programs obtain pregnancy testing and information.
(f) The most effective way to ensure that residents make and
implement timely reproductive decisions is for licensed health care
facilities primarily engaged in pregnancy care to advise every client
on site of legal reproductive options and resources available in
California. Unlicensed facilities that advertise and provide
pregnancy testing and care must advise clients, at the time they are
seeking or obtaining care, that these facilities are not licensed to
provide medical care.
SEC. 2. The purpose of this act is to ensure that
California residents make their personal reproductive health care
decisions knowing their rights and the health care services available
to them.
SEC. 3. Article 2.7 (commencing with Section
123470) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 106 of the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
Article 2.7. Reproductive FACT Act
123470. This article shall be known and may be cited as the
Reproductive FACT (Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and
Transparency) Act or Reproductive FACT Act.
123471. (a) For purposes of this article , subject to subdivision
(c), "licensed covered facility" means a facility licensed under
Section 1204 or a satellite clinic operating under a primary care
clinic pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1206, whose primary
purpose is providing pregnancy-related services, and that satisfies
two or more of the following:
(1) The facility offers obstetric ultrasounds, obstetric
sonograms, or prenatal care to pregnant women.
(2) The facility offers pregnancy testing or pregnancy diagnosis.
(3) The facility advertises or solicits patrons with offers to
provide prenatal sonography, pregnancy tests, or pregnancy options
counseling.
(4) The facility has staff or volunteers who collect health
information from clients.
(b) For purposes of this article, subject to subdivision (c),
"unlicensed covered facility" is a facility that is not licensed by
the State of California and does not have a licensed medical provider
on staff or under contract who provides or directly supervises the
provision of all of the services, whose primary purpose is providing
pregnancy-related services, and that satisfies two or more of the
following:
(1) The facility offers obstetric ultrasounds, obstetric
sonograms, or prenatal care to pregnant women.
(2) The facility offers pregnancy testing or pregnancy diagnosis.
(3) The facility advertises or solicits patrons with offers to
provide prenatal sonography, pregnancy tests, or pregnancy options
counseling.
(4) The facility has staff or volunteers who collect health
information from clients.
(c) A clinic directly conducted, maintained, or operated by the
United States or any of its departments, officers, or agencies is not
a covered facility.
123472. (a) A licensed covered facility shall disseminate the
following notice in English and in minority languages required
pursuant to Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act (52 U.S.C.
10101 et seq.) to clients on site.
(1) The notice shall state:
"You have the right to decide whether to have a child. In
California, every pregnant woman has the right to decide whether to
have a child or to obtain abortion care. Every resident also has a
right to use a birth control method. California has public programs
that provide free or low-cost prenatal care, abortion, and
contraception for eligible women. To see whether you qualify, call
the telephone number of the county social services office for the
county in which the facility is located."
(2) The information shall be disclosed in one of the following
ways:
(A) A public notice posted in a conspicuous place where
individuals wait that may be easily read by those seeking services
from the facility. The notice shall be at least 8.5 inches by 11
inches and written in no less than 22-point type.
(B) A printed notice distributed to all clients in no less than
14-point type.
(C) A digital notice distributed to all clients that can be read
at the time of check-in or arrival, in the same point type as other
digital disclosures. A printed notice as described in subparagraph
(B) shall be available for all clients who cannot or do not wish to
receive the information in a digital format.
(3) The notice may be combined with other mandated disclosures.
(b) An unlicensed covered facility shall disseminate the following
notice in English and in minority languages required pursuant to
Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act (52 U.S.C. 10101 et
seq.) to clients on site and in any print and digital advertising
materials, including Internet Web sites.
(1) The notice shall state: "This facility is not licensed as a
medical facility by the State of California and has no licensed
medical provider who provides or directly supervises the provision of
services."
(2) The on site notice shall be a sign at least 8.5 inches by 11
inches and written in no less than 48-point type, and shall be posted
conspicuously in the entrance of the facility and at least one
additional area where clients wait to receive services.
(3) The notice in the advertising material shall be the same point
type as other information in the advertisement.
123473. (a) Covered facilities that fail to comply with the
requirements of this article are liable for a civil penalty of five
hundred dollars ($500) for a first offense and one thousand dollars
($1,000) for each subsequent offense. The Attorney General, city
attorney, or county counsel may bring an action to impose a civil
penalty pursuant to this section after doing both of the following:
(1) Providing the covered facility with reasonable notice of
noncompliance, which informs the facility that it is subject to a
civil penalty if it does not correct the violation within 30 days
from the date the notice is sent to the facility.
(2) Verifying that the violation was not corrected within the
30-day period described in paragraph (1).
(b) The civil penalty shall be deposited into the General Fund if
the action is brought by the Attorney General. If the action is
brought by a city attorney, the civil penalty shall be paid to the
treasurer of the city in which the judgment is entered. If the action
is brought by a county counsel, the civil penalty shall be paid to
the treasurer of the county in which the judgment is entered.
123474. The Attorney General shall post and maintain on the
Department of Justice's Internet Web site a list of the covered
facilities upon which a penalty has been imposed for noncompliance
with the requirements of this article.
SEC. 4. The provisions of this act are severable.
If any provision of this act or its application is held invalid, that
invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that
can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.
SECTION 1. Section 123375 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
123375. (a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b), a
person shall not sell, offer for sale, give away, distribute, or
otherwise furnish materials intended to determine the presence of
pregnancy, unless that person has obtained a certificate of
acceptability from the department declaring that the materials have
been approved as to efficacy and safety by the department.
(b) Subdivision (a) shall not apply to materials intended to
determine the presence of pregnancy, that are sold, offered for sale,
given away, distributed, or otherwise furnished to a physician and
surgeon licensed to practice in this state, a pharmacist licensed to
practice in this state, a licensed primary care clinic, a licensed
health facility, or a public health agency.
(c) Any person other than a person described in subdivision (b)
who intends to sell, offer for sale, give away, distribute or
otherwise furnish materials intended to determine the presence of
pregnancy shall first make application to the state department for
certification of the materials. The department shall also require
that an application for certification shall be accompanied by samples
of any materials that are the subject of the application as the
department may reasonably require.
(d) Any violation of this section is a misdemeanor.