BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 775
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Date of Hearing: May 6, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
775 (Chiu) - As Amended May 4, 2015
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| |Judiciary | |7 - 3 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill:
1)Requires licensed clinics that provide family planning or
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pregnancy-related services to provide a specific notice to
consumers regarding public programs whereby patients can
access reproductive health services, but exempts federal
government clinics and clinics participating in Medi-Cal and
the Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment Program
(FPACT) from notice requirements.
2)Requires unlicensed facilities that provide pregnancy-related
services to disseminate and post a notice informing consumers
that they are not a licensed medical facility.
3)Specifies penalties of $500 for the first instance of
noncompliance, and $1,000 for subsequent noncompliance, and
authorizes the Attorney General, city attorney, or county
counsel to bring an action to impose penalties.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Minor potential enforcement costs to the Department of Justice,
and minor potential penalty revenues, which would be GF
revenues.
Any costs would be dependent on the scope of enforcement, which
would be at the discretion of the Attorney General, and any
revenues would be dependent on the number of instances of
noncompliance.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. The purpose of this bill is to provide consumer
protection and disclosure for women seeking pregnancy or
family planning-related services. The author contends there
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are nearly 200 licensed and unlicensed clinics known as crisis
pregnancy centers (CPCs) in California whose goal is to
interfere with women's ability to be fully informed and
exercise their reproductive rights, and that CPCs pose as
full-service women's health clinics, but aim to discourage and
prevent women from seeking abortions. The author concludes
that these intentionally deceptive advertising and counseling
practices often confuse, misinform, and even intimidate women
from making fully-informed, time-sensitive decisions about
critical health care.
2)Crisis Pregnancy Centers. CPCs are facilities, both licensed
and unlicensed, that are commonly affiliated with, or run by
organizations whose stated goal is to prevent women from
accessing abortions.
Issues related to constitutionality and free speech are
addressed in the Judiciary Committee policy analysis.
3)Support. This bill is supported by reproductive health
professionals, various women's groups, Planned Parenthood, and
Maternal And Child Health Access, among others, and is
sponsored by Black Women for Wellness and NARAL Pro-Choice
California. These groups believe this bill will protect
patients by allowing them to fully understand their
reproductive rights, and will protect them from deception by
organizations whose sole purpose is to provide them with a
biased view that does not allow them to make their own
informed choice.
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4)Opposition. This bill is opposed by groups who oppose
abortion. The California Catholic Conference (CCC) opposes
this bill stating, on its surface, the bill proposes to
regulate the state's pregnancy centers, but in actuality is
aimed at discriminating against those pregnancy centers that
hold a pro-life viewpoint. The California Right to Life
Committee, Inc. (CRLC) also opposes this bill and states it
forces pro-life pregnancy centers to promote services which
they consider morally reprehensible.
Analysis Prepared by:Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916)
319-2081