California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1526

Introduced by Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care (Assembly Members Brown (Chair), Gray, Levine, and Lopez)

March 16, 2015

An act to add Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 103950) to Part 2 of Division 102 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public health.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1526, as introduced, Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey: caregiver module.

Existing law creates the State Department of Public Health and requires it to carry out various duties related to public health programs.

This bill would require, beginning January 1, 2016, and until January 1, 2021, the State Department of Public Health to include the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Caregiver Module in the annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, as specified.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: 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 caregiving
represents challenges for public health about which too little is
known. California’s informal caregivers form an integral and
frequently unrecognized part of the health care system, providing
billions of dollars’ worth of unpaid care to individuals with
disabilities and chronic diseases. There are both positive and
negative health outcomes and experiences associated with
caregiving.

Public health staff, agencies, and researchers are working to
understand caregivers and their health outcomes. They also seek
to answer questions such as how many caregivers there are in
California, what types of care they provide, and for how long they
provide this care. Understanding caregiving across multiple levels
allows us to understand the impact of caregiving, plan for services
and other needs to support caregivers and care recipients, and
deliver appropriate interventions to caregivers.

SEC. 2.  

Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 103950) is added
to Part 2 of Division 102 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

 

Chapter  5. Health Care Surveys

 

103950.  

The State Department of Public Health shall include
the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Caregiver
Module in the annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
survey beginning January 1, 2016, and until January 1, 2021, unless
another act to extend the survey is enacted before January 1, 2021.