BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2892
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2892 (Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials)
As Amended May 27, 2016
Majority vote
------------------------------------------------------------------
|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Environmental |6-0 |Alejo, Dahle, Gray, | |
|Safety | |Lopez, McCarty, Ting | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Extends the sunset, from January 1, 2017, to January
AB 2892
Page 2
1, 2019, on the requirement for laboratories, as part of the
California Medical Supervision Program (Program), to
electronically transmit specified agricultural worker pesticide
exposure test results to the Department of Pesticide Regulation
(DPR).
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires each employer who has an employee who regularly
handles organophosphate or carbamate pesticides (OP/CB
pesticides) to contract with a physician to provide medical
supervision of the employee.
2)Delineates the employer's responsibilities for medical
supervision for employees regularly handling OP/CB pesticides,
including requiring baseline cholinesterase tests and follow
up tests after the employee has handled OP/CB pesticides, as
specified.
3)Requires a laboratory that performs cholinesterase testing on
human blood drawn in California under the Program, or drawn to
respond to alleged or known exposure to cholinesterase
inhibitors that resulted in illness, to report specified
information, including test results, to DPR.
4)Sunsets the cholinesterase result reporting requirements on
January 1, 2017.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, should this bill be enacted, it could result in
increased costs for the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment (OEHHA) to review cholinesterase tests of $300,000 to
$450,000 (general fund or special fund) over the extended
two-year period; and, minor, absorbable costs to DPR.
AB 2892
Page 3
COMMENTS: Organophosphate and carbamate (OP/CB) pesticides:
Both OPs and CBs work as a pesticide by inhibiting the nerve
enzyme cholinesterase, which breaks down the neurotransmitter
acetylcholine, leading to the death of an insect. OPs and CBs
can also affect humans by inhibiting cholinesterase. High
exposure to OPs/ CBs can cause a variety of acute symptoms of
neurological poisoning, including blurred vision, diarrhea,
increased respiratory secretions, tremors, seizures, loss of
consciousness, and death. The acute symptoms can mimic other
illnesses, and people can be sub-clinically affected without
showing major acute symptoms. Due to the potential for
sub-clinical effects or misdiagnosis of the acute effects, it is
useful to test for the depression of cholinesterase in order to
identify potential overexposure to OPs/ CBs.
California Medical Supervision Program (Program): DPR reports
that the Program was established in 1974 when the use of
cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides was extremely prevalent in
California agriculture. While the use of
cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides has declined, from
2008-2013 OP/CB use remained between 4.1 to 5.1 million pounds
applied per year.
The goal of the Program is to protect pesticide handlers from
excessive exposure to OPs and CBs. It requires employers to
contract with a licensed physician as a "medical supervisor" to
periodically test the cholinesterase level of workers who
regularly handle these pesticides. Under the Program, the
medical supervisor establishes baseline values of cholinesterase
during non-exposure periods for each employee, and periodically
measures cholinesterase activity levels while the worker handles
OPs/CBs. If the employee's cholinesterase is depressed below
certain levels, the employer must take immediate specified
actions to reduce exposure, such as promptly retesting the
employee, evaluating the work practices, or immediately removing
the employee from further exposure.
AB 2892
Page 4
Reporting requirements: While the Program had been in existence
for more than 30 years, prior to 2010, the state received very
little information from the field to determine whether the
Program was effective. However, AB 1963 (Nava), Chapter 369,
Statues of 2010, added Section 105206 to the Health & Safety
Code, which requires laboratories that conduct cholinesterase
tests as a part of the Program to report test results to DPR.
The results are then analyzed by DPR and OEHHA, in consultation
with Department of Public Health (DPH).
AB 1963 also required, by December 31, 2015, DPR and OEHHA, in
consultation with DPH, to prepare a report on the effectiveness
of the medical supervision program and on the utility of
laboratory-based reporting of cholinesterase testing for
pesticide illness surveillance and prevention. AB 1963 stated
that the joint report may include recommendations to the
Legislature that DPR and OEHHA deem necessary.
DPR and OEHHA submitted the resultant report, The Report to the
California Legislature: California's Cholinesterase Test
Results, in December 2015, which found that overall, the Program
appears effective in protecting agricultural workers who handle
cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides. The report did find,
however, that based on the data submitted from 2011-2013, the
utility of the data analysis is hampered by the inclusion of
thousands of records from individuals who are not in the
Program, and by missing data on the purpose of the
cholinesterase test. DPR and OEHHA laid out specific "future
directions," or actions that the two entities will take to
improve the Program and improve the utility of the data
collected. DPR and OEHHA also made two recommendations that the
legislature would need to enact for Program improvement: 1)
Cholinesterase reporting should continue at least through
December 31, 2018, so that DPR and OEHHA can obtain additional
data with clearer information on the purpose of the test and to
AB 2892
Page 5
allow further evaluation of the Program; and, 2) That
transferring cholinesterase reporting responsibilities from the
laboratories to the medical supervisors may ultimately be a more
efficient way to implement the Program.
This bill would enact the first recommendation in the report by
extending the cholinesterase reporting requirement through
January 1, 2019.
Analysis Prepared by:
Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965
FN:
0003323