BILL NUMBER: SB 672 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 6, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hernandez
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
An act to amend Section 103577 of the Health and Safety
Code, relating to vital records. 1157 of the Evidence
Code, relating to evidence.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 672, as amended, Hernandez. Certified records of live
birth: homeless persons: fees. Discovery: pharmacy
review committees.
Existing law exempts from discovery as evidence the proceedings
and records of specified organized committees of health care
professionals and review committees having the responsibility of
evaluation and improvement of the quality of care.
This bill would extend this exemption, for purposes of civil
proceedings only, to the proceedings and records of pharmacy
organized committees and review committees, as described above.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and
sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to,
duties as State Registrar relating to the uniform administration of
provisions relating to vital records and health statistics. Existing
law requires the State Registrar, local registrar, or county recorder
to, upon request and payment of the required fee, supply to an
applicant a certified copy of the record of a birth, fetal death,
death, marriage, or marriage dissolution registered with the
official. Existing law authorizes the issuance of certain records
without payment of the fee.
Existing law, on and after July 1, 2015, requires each local
registrar or county recorder to issue, without a fee, a certified
record of live birth to any person who can verify his or her status
as a homeless person or a homeless child or youth, as defined.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those
provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1157 of the Evidence
Code is amended to read:
1157. (a) Neither the proceedings nor the records of organized
committees of medical, medical-dental, podiatric, registered
dietitian, psychological, marriage and family therapist, licensed
clinical social worker, professional clinical counselor,
pharmacy, or veterinary staffs in hospitals, or of a peer
review body, as defined in Section 805 of the Business and
Professions Code, having the responsibility of evaluation and
improvement of the quality of care rendered in the hospital, or for
that peer review body, or medical or dental review or dental
hygienist review or chiropractic review or podiatric review or
registered dietitian review or pharmacist review
or veterinary review or acupuncturist review committees of
local medical, dental, dental hygienist, podiatric, dietetic,
pharmacy, veterinary, acupuncture, or chiropractic societies,
marriage and family therapist, licensed clinical social worker,
professional clinical counselor, or psychological review committees
of state or local marriage and family therapist, state or local
licensed clinical social worker, state or local licensed professional
clinical counselor, or state or local psychological associations or
societies having the responsibility of evaluation and improvement of
the quality of care, shall be subject to discovery.
(b) Except as hereinafter provided, no a
person in attendance at a meeting of any of those
the committees described in subdivision (a)
shall not be required to testify as to what
transpired at that meeting.
(c) The prohibition relating to discovery or testimony does not
apply to the statements made by any a
person in attendance at a meeting of any of those
the committees who described in
subdivision (a) if that person is a party to an
action or proceeding the subject matter of which was reviewed at that
meeting, or to any a person requesting
hospital staff privileges, or in any an
action against an insurance carrier alleging bad faith by the
carrier in refusing to accept a settlement offer within the policy
limits.
(d) The prohibitions in this section do not apply to medical,
dental, dental hygienist, podiatric, dietetic, psychological,
marriage and family therapist, licensed clinical social worker,
professional clinical counselor, pharmacy, veterinary,
acupuncture, or chiropractic society committees that exceed 10
percent of the membership of the society, nor to any of those
committees if any person serves upon the committee when his or her
own conduct or practice is being reviewed.
(e) The amendments made to this section by Chapter 1081 of the
Statutes of 1983, or at the 1985 portion of the 1985-86 Regular
Session of the Legislature, at the 1990 portion of the 1989-90
Regular Session of the Legislature, at the 2000 portion of the
1999-2000 Regular Session of the Legislature, or at the 2011 portion
of the 2011-12 Regular Session of the Legislature, or at the
2015 portion of the 2015- 16 Regular Session of the
Legislature, do not exclude the discovery or use of relevant
evidence in a criminal action.
SECTION 1. Section 103577 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
103577. (a) On or after July 1, 2015, each local registrar or
county recorder shall, without a fee, issue a certified record of
live birth to any person who can verify his or her status as a
homeless person or a homeless child or youth. A homeless services
provider that has knowledge of a person's housing status shall verify
a person's status for the purposes of this subdivision. In
accordance with all other application requirements set forth in
Section 103526, a request for a certified record of live birth made
pursuant to this subdivision shall be made by a homeless person or a
homeless child or youth on behalf of themselves, or by any person
lawfully entitled to request a certified record of live birth on
behalf of a child, if the child has been verified as a homeless
person or a homeless child or youth pursuant to this section. A
person applying for a certified record of live birth under this
subdivision is entitled to one birth record, per application, for
each eligible person verified as a homeless person or a homeless
child or youth. For purposes of this subdivision, an affidavit
developed pursuant to subdivision (b) shall constitute sufficient
verification that a person is a homeless person or a homeless child
or youth. A person applying for a certified record of live birth
under this subdivision shall not be charged a fee for verification of
his or her eligibility.
(b) The State Department of Public Health shall develop an
affidavit attesting to an applicant's status as a homeless person or
homeless child or youth. For purposes of this section, the affidavit
shall not be deemed complete unless it is signed by both the person
making a request for a certified record of live birth pursuant to
subdivision (a) and a homeless services provider who has knowledge of
the applicant's housing status.
(c) Notwithstanding the rulemaking provisions of the
Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section
11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code),
the department may implement and administer this section through an
all-county letter or similar instructions from the director or State
Registrar without taking regulatory action.
(d) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions
apply:
(1) A "homeless child or youth" has the same meaning as the
definition of "homeless children and youths" as set forth in the
federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11301
et seq.).
(2) A "homeless person" has the same meaning as the definition of
that term set forth in the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance
Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 11301 et seq.).
(3) A "homeless services provider" includes all of the following
individuals or entities:
(A) A governmental or nonprofit agency receiving federal, state,
or county or municipal funding to provide services to a "homeless
person" or "homeless child or youth," or that is otherwise sanctioned
to provide those services by a local homeless continuum of care
organization.
(B) An attorney licensed to practice law in this state.
(C) A local educational agency liaison for homeless children and
youth, as designated pursuant to Section 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii) of Title
42 of the United States Code, or a school social worker.
(D) A human services provider or public social services provider
funded by the State of California to provide homeless children or
youth services, health services, mental or behavioral health
services, substance use disorder services, or public assistance or
employment services.
(E) A law enforcement officer designated as a liaison to the
homeless population by a local police department or sheriff's
department within the state.