BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1947
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1947 (Chiu)
As Amended April 7, 2016
Majority vote
------------------------------------------------------------------
|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Health |15-2 |Wood, Maienschein, |Patterson, |
| | |Bonilla, Burke, |Steinorth |
| | |Campos, Chiu, | |
| | |Dababneh, Gomez, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Lackey, Olsen, | |
| | |Ridley-Thomas, | |
| | |Rodriguez, Santiago, | |
| | |Thurmond | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |13-1 |Gonzalez, Bloom, |Jones |
| | |Bonilla, Bonta, | |
| | |Calderon, Daly, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | | | |
AB 1947
Page 2
| | | | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Holden, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Weber | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Requires the centralized application unit of the
Licensing and Certification Division in the California
Department of Public Health (DPH) to publish current checklists
and instructions on how to complete an application for a new
affiliate clinic license, and how to report changes to an
existing affiliate clinic, on the DPH Web site.
EXISTING LAW: Allows a clinic corporation on behalf of a
primary care clinic that has held a valid, unrevoked, and
unsuspended license for at least the immediately preceding five
years, with no history of violations, to file an affiliate
clinic application to establish a primary care clinic at an
additional site, or a mobile health care unit, also known as
affiliate clinics.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, negligible state fiscal effect.
COMMENTS: According to the author, the licensure process for
health facilities can be a complicated and time-intensive
process. The author notes, in order to assist organizations
that operate multiple primary care clinics, which serve the
state's safety net population, get through this process more
quickly, the Legislature approved a streamlined, fast-tracked
affiliate primary care clinic licensure process that is intended
to permit clinics to open and begin serving the public as soon
AB 1947
Page 3
as possible.
The author states this bill simply would require DPH to publish
on its website an updated affiliate primary care clinic license
application checklist for new clinics, and a uniform checklist
explaining what existing licensees must do to report changes for
existing affiliate primary care clinics. The author concludes
that this bill is aimed at ensuring that California's safety net
providers, such as affiliate primary care clinics, are able to
efficiently open up and not have to face unnecessary burdens.
In 2015 the Legislature passed, and Governor Brown signed AB
1177 (Gomez), Chapter 704, Statutes of 2015, which prohibits a
primary care clinic, notwithstanding current regulations or any
other law, from being required to enter into a written transfer
agreement with a nearby hospital as a condition of licensure,
and requires DPH to repeal the regulation requiring primary care
clinics to enter into transfer agreements, no later than July 1,
2016. However, the checklist published on DPH's Web site still
indicates the transfer agreement is a required element of the
application. According to DPH, the Web site and clinic
application checklists are in the process of being updated to
reflect the changes, and are anticipated to be completed by the
end of April 2016. DPH states that an All Facility Letter was
published informing clinics about the law change, and that the
regulations will be repealed by July 1, 2016, per the provisions
of AB 1177.
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California (PPAC) is the
sponsor of this bill and states that it will significantly
improve the licensure process by providing applicants with
accurate and current information about the requirements to
obtain an affiliate primary care clinic license. PPAC notes
that DPH has not updated the affiliate primary license
application checklist since 2011, leaving their Web site with
potentially misleading and contradictory information.
AB 1947
Page 4
The California Right to Life Committee opposes this bill,
stating they are already very concerned about the health of
women who seek services in these facilities due to a previous
bill that changed the building code standards and that now women
are at double risk with the removal of the requirement for a
hospital transfer agreement.
Analysis Prepared by:
Lara Flynn / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097 FN:
0002696