BILL NUMBER: SB 672 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 13, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 6, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hernandez
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
An act to amend Section 1157 of the Evidence Code, relating to
evidence.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 672, as amended, Hernandez. Discovery: pharmacy
pharmacist 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
pharmacist organized committees and review
committees, as described above.
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, pharmacist, 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, a person in attendance at a
meeting of any of 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 a person in attendance at a meeting
of any of the committees 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 a person requesting hospital staff
privileges, or in 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,
pharmacist, 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.