BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1038
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SENATE THIRD READING
SB
1038 (Allen)
As Introduced February 12, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 38-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Higher |13-0 |Medina, Baker, Bloom, | |
|Education | |Chávez, Irwin, | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, Levine, | |
| | |Linder, Low, Olsen, | |
| | |Santiago, Weber, | |
| | |Williams | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Replaces current mandatory tuberculosis (TB) testing
for community college employees with a TB risk assessment
developed by the State Department of Public Health and the
California Tuberculosis Controllers Association. Specifically,
this bill:
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1)Prohibits a person from being initially employed by a
community college school district unless the person has had a
TB risk assessment within the past 60 days.
2)Specifies that if no risk factors are identified by a TB risk
assessment, an examination is not required.
3)Requires that if TB risk factors are identified by a TB risk
assessment, employees are to be examined by a physician to
determine if they are free of infectious TB.
4)Requires employees who have no identified risk factors, or who
test negative, to undergo a TB risk assessment at least once
each four years.
5)Specifies that once an employee has been documented as having
TB, the risk assessment is no longer required.
6)Requires employees, after a TB risk assessment and, if
necessary, an examination, to file with the district
superintendent, a certificate from the physician and surgeon
showing the employee was examined and found free from
infectious TB.
7)Makes the risk assessment and, if indicated, the TB test, a
condition of employment and requires the cost to be borne by
the applicant; and, allows schools or districts to reimburse
applicants once they are hired.
8)Requires existing employees to be reimbursed for the expense
of the TB assessment and examination.
9)Provides that if a person who transfers his or her employment
from one campus or community college district to another or
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who transfers employment from a private or parochial
elementary school, secondary schools, or nursery school to the
community college district, he or she may be employed if he or
she can produce a certificate that shows he or she had a
tuberculosis risk assessment in the last four years that
showed no risk factors were present or was examined.
10) Requires all drivers, as a
condition of contract providing the transportation of
students, to have a TB risk assessment and, if indicated, the
examination for TB within 60 days of initial hire and be found
free of infectious TB.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Prohibits a person from being initially employed by a
community college district in an academic or classified
position unless the person has had a TB test within the past
60 days to determine if he or she has TB, as specified.
2)Requires the TB test to consist of an approved intradermal TB
test or any other test for TB infection that is recommended by
the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
licensed by the federal Food and Drug Administration, and
requires if the test is positive, that the test be followed by
an X-ray of the lungs.
3)Allows a district superintendent to exempt a pregnant employee
who tests positive for TB from the requirement for an X-ray of
the lungs for up to 60 days following termination of the
pregnancy.
4)Requires employees who test negative for TB to be tested at
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least once every four years.
5)Requires that once an employee has been documented as having
TB, the test is no longer required, and requires the employee
to be referred within 30 days to the local health officer to
determine the need for follow-up care.
6)Requires employees, after the test, to file a certificate from
the physician showing the employee was examined and found free
from active TB (Education Code Section 87408.6).
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: Need for the measure. According to the author,
current law requires community college employees to be tested
for TB as a condition of employment; however, community college
employees are not at a high risk population for having TB. The
author argues, "Universally testing low risk populations is
neither cost effective nor necessary for controlling the
infection; this practice wastes a limited supply of valuable
resources and leads to a high number of false-positive test
results that require many non-infected people to undergo
additional unnecessary and costly TB testing."
Recommended approach for TB screening. The Center for Disease
Control and Prevention, the California Department of Public
Health, and the California Tuberculosis Controllers Association,
to name a few, in recent years have recommended a "targeted
testing" approach, in which a person's risk for TB is assessed
and only those who are deemed to be high risk for the infection
are actually tested.
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Existing law is not a reflection of the standards and
recommendations on TB control guidelines; this measure seeks to
align the state laws with the recommended TB guidelines.
Policy comment. While this measure will affect all community
college employees, there are overall health related TB policy
questions that fall outside the jurisdiction of the Higher
Education Committee; however, this analysis does not seek to
address other potential health policy implications, and the
measure, to date, will not be heard by the Assembly Health
Committee.
Related legislation. AB 1667 (Williams), Chapter 329, Statutes
of 2014, replaced current mandatory TB testing for school
employees and volunteers with a TB risk assessment administered
by a health care provider.
Analysis Prepared by:
Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960
FN: 0003454