BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1149
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Rob Bonta, Chair
AB 1149
(Wood) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Public health emergencies: funding.
SUMMARY: Allows trade associations that represent specific
local health entities to receive federal funding allocated by
the Department of Public Health (DPH) for the prevention of, and
response to, public health emergencies. Contains an urgency
clause to ensure that the provisions of this bill go into
immediate effect upon enactment.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes procedures and requirements to govern the
allocation to, and expenditure by, local health jurisdictions,
hospitals, clinics, emergency medical systems, and poison
control centers, of federal funding received for the
prevention of, and response to, public health emergencies.
2)Provides that the procedures in 1) above apply only when the
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specified entities are designated by a federal or state agency
to manage the funds for public health preparedness and
response to public health emergencies pursuant to a specified
federally-approved plan.
3)Requires funds to be allocated to these entities through the
use of agreements that are exempt from provisions that
establish public contracting requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT: This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS:
1)PURPOSE OF THIS BILL. According to the author, due to a
recent change in DPH's interpretation of current law, trade
associations that represent specific health facilities are no
longer able to receive Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP)
grant funding administered by the Emergency Preparedness
Office at DPH. This federally funded program is designated to
support programs that strengthen preparedness for public
health emergencies such as natural disasters, terror attacks,
and epidemic illnesses. Since the program began in 1996,
trade associations have played a major role in the HPP and
have proven to be valuable assets. The infrastructure and
communication channels within associations make them
particularly well suited to tackle the education and outreach
challenges inherent to the HPP.
The author states that this bill will allow associations to
remain a valuable resource for the HPP. The familiarity and
credibility trade associations bring to the table, when
dealing with their membership, creates a training and teaching
environment that is uniquely suited to deliver a high quality
program. Finally, by allowing the trade associations to play
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their role, DPH would save valuable resources that otherwise
would be expended searching for other entities to execute the
program.
2)BACKGROUND. In 2003, the federal government established the
HPP. Funding was designated to support programs that
strengthen public health emergency preparedness through
enhanced planning, increased integration or improved
infrastructure. Due to the timing of allocation and
expenditure of federal funds, these funds are distributed
through a noncompetitive grant process administered by DPH.
Historically, trade associations have played a major role in
the HPP and have proven to be valuable assets in achieving the
goals of the HPP.
Recently, DPH has stated that current law does not explicitly
provide authorization for state associations that work with
specific health facilities to implement emergency preparedness
training and education in the state. Under current law, the
specific health facilities are exempt from the public
contracting code for the purposes of HPP management. Without
this exemption, the trade associations would have to
participate in the competitive bid process.
3)SUPPORT. According to the California Association of Health
Facilities, sponsor of this bill, this bill will assure HPP
funding continues to be directed at the associations that are
suited to provide appropriate training and education to health
facilities in California. associations have channels and an
infrastructure that already exists which allows for
communication, outreach, and education to thousands of
healthcare providers. Associations have the expertise, and
state and local authorities have called on us for years to
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assist them in identifying and addressing the issues in
disaster preparedness and response. This has been a highly
effective arrangement to date, and the newly interpreted path
by DPH would hamper the process if this bill is not passed in
a timely manner.
4)PREVIOUS LEGISLATION.
a) AB 1793 (Yamada), Chapter 166, Statutes of 2012,
eliminates the September 1, 2012 sunset date on provisions
of law governing how federal funding for emergency
preparedness is allocated, and adds long-term health
facilities to the list of entities that can be designated
to receive federal funds for emergency preparedness.
b) SB 1103 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter
228, Statutes of 2004, contains statutory changes that
enables DPH to allocate federal funds to local health
jurisdictions, clinics, hospitals, emergency medical
systems, and poison control centers in an expeditious
manner and exempts these expenditures from public contract
code requirements.
c) SB 406 (Ortiz), Chapter 393, Statutes of 2002,
establishes the procedures by which federal funding may be
allocated to, and expended by, local health jurisdictions
for the prevention of, and response to, bioterrorism
attacks and other public health emergencies, pursuant to
the federally approved collaborative state-local plan.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
AB 1149
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Support
California Association of Health Facilities (sponsor)
California Hospital Association
California Primary Care Association
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Dharia McGrew / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097