Amended in Senate April 29, 2015

Senate Bill No. 131

Introduced by Senator Cannella

(Principal coauthor: Senator Galgiani)

(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Gray and Olsen)

January 22, 2015

An act relating to the University of California, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 131, as amended, Cannella. University of California: medical education.

Existing provisions of the California Constitution establish the University of California as a public trust under the administration of the Regents of the University of California. The University of California system includes 10 campuses, which are located in Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.

This bill would express findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to the role of the University of California with respect to access to health care in the San Joaquin Valley.

The bill would appropriate $1,855,000 from the General Fund to the regents each fiscal year, commencing with the 2016-17 fiscal year, for allocation to the University of California to support expansion of the San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education, as specified.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: yes. 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 all of the
following:

(a) The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
begin insert (Public Law 111-148) end insert provides millions of previously uninsured
Californians access to health services, including physician care.
As a result of this additional demand for physician services,
California’s projected statewide physician shortfall is 17,000 by
2015.

(b) The San Joaquin Valley, which runs from Stockton to
Bakersfield, is rich in cultural diversity and is the nation’s leading
agricultural region. However, the valley is disproportionately
affected by the state’s physician shortage, which is expected to
intensify in the years ahead given the high rate of population
growth in the area. Access to health care is 31 percent lower in the
San Joaquin Valley than in the rest of California.

(c) Several regions of the San Joaquin Valley are federally
designated begin delete Medically Underserved Areas end delete begin insert medically underserved
areas end insert (MUAs). The calculation of MUAs involves four variables:
ratio of primary medical care physicians per 1,000 population,
infant mortality rate, percentage of the population with incomes
below the poverty level, and percentage of the population 65 years
of age or over.

(d) UC Merced’s San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical
Education (PRIME) is providing a key interim resource for training
valley health care providers. This program accomplishes all of the
following:

(1) Strengthens the desire for new physicians to practice in the
San Joaquin Valley, which is one of California’s most medically
underserved areas.

(2) Reduces health disparities and inequalities in the San Joaquin
Valley.

(3) Forms lasting relationships between the program and
communities, hospitals, clinics, and physicians to enhance health
care in the region.

(e) Students who take part in PRIME benefit from firsthand
experience with interdisciplinary health care by providing care in
medically underserved communities, working with patients and
families from culturally diverse backgrounds, and developing a
true understanding of the issues and conditions that impact access
to and quality of health care in the region.

(f) Despite its numerous benefits for its region, PRIME lacks
an ongoing source of funding for its current enrollment as well as
the financial resources to expand capacity to meet the needs of the
valley.

(g) Given the San Joaquin Valley’s health care needs, it is
essential for the State of California to continue developing the
valley’s health care resources by sustaining the current PRIME
enrollment and expanding that program’s capacity.

SEC. 2.  

The sum of one million eight hundred fifty-five
thousand dollars ($1,855,000) is hereby appropriated from the
General Fund to the Regents of the University of California each
fiscal year, commencing with the 2016-17 fiscal year, for
allocation to the University of California to support expansion of
the San Joaquin Valley begin delete PRIME program end delete begin insert Program in Medical
Education end insert to admit up to 12 students per year and operate the
program with up to 48 student participants from across the
four-year curriculum annually.