BILL NUMBER: SB 672	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  MAY 18, 2015
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 27, 2015
	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, Hernandez. Discovery: 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 pharmacist
organized committees and review committees, as described above.


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, 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, 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.