BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1130
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
1130 (Gray)
As Amended August 26, 2015
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | 77-0 | (April 30, |SENATE: |40-0 | (August 31, |
| | |2015) | | |2015) |
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Original Committee Reference: HEALTH
SUMMARY: Extends the limit on the hours of operation for an
intermittent primary care community or free clinic, from 20
hours a week to 30 hours a week.
The Senate amendments require licensed clinics, as part of their
biennial license renewal, to report to the Department of Public
Health as to whether they are currently operating any
intermittent clinics, the location of these clinics, and the
estimated hours of operation, and incorporate additional changes
to Health and Safety Code Section 1206 proposed by AB 941 (Wood)
of the current legislative session, that would become operative
if this bill and AB 941 are chaptered and this bill is chaptered
last.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
AB 1130
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COMMENTS: According to the author, the existing limit on hours
of operation for intermittent clinics of a maximum of 20 hours
was placed in statute 37 years ago, and based on a typical 40
hour work week. The author states that today, full time
healthcare centers are open much longer hours, in some cases
seven days a week, and continue to adapt in order to meet the
needs of every community. The author notes that given the
increase in patient population thanks to the Medi-Cal expansion
and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, this bill
seeks to increase the hours an intermittent clinic may operate
so that they may keep up with the demand for service in all
areas of California, but particularly in the most underserved
regions.
Community clinics and health centers are nonprofit, tax-exempt
clinics that are licensed as community or free clinics, and
provide services to patients on a sliding fee scale basis or, in
the case of free clinics, at no charge to the patients. These
include federally designated community health centers, migrant
health centers, rural health centers, and frontier health
centers. California is home to nearly 1,000 community clinics
serving more than 5.6 million patients (or one in seven
Californians) annually through over 17 million patient
encounters. More than 50% of these patients are Hispanic and
43% speak a primary language other than English.
The Central Valley Health Network and the California Primary
Care Association are the cosponsors of this bill and note that
many intermittent clinics are operated on school campuses and
address the unique needs of school age children and their
families. The sponsors point out that others are operated in
short- and long-term shelters designed to help people
experiencing homelessness and others are embedded in affordable
housing communities. The sponsors conclude that in these
situations, the intermittent clinics meet the unique healthcare
needs of patients who may not have the ability to access a full
time health center.
AB 1130
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There is no opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Lara Flynn / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097 FN:
0001865