BILL NUMBER: SB 2132 CHAPTERED BILL TEXT CHAPTER 826 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 28, 2000 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 28, 2000 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2000 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 1, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 31, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 25, 2000 INTRODUCED BY Senators Dunn and Perata (Principal coauthors: Senators Burton and Brulte) (Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Baugh and Hertzberg) (Coauthor: Assembly Member Shelley) FEBRUARY 25, 2000 An act relating to health services, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 2132, Dunn. County health services: tobacco tax. The Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Act of 1988 (Proposition 99) was adopted by the voters at the general election held on November 8, 1988, imposing a tax on the distribution of cigarettes in addition to the tax imposed pursuant to the Cigarette Tax Law as of the effective date of the adoption of Proposition 99, and imposing a tax on the distribution of certain tobacco products pursuant to a specified formula. Existing law provides for the establishment of the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund, containing certain accounts, including the Hospital Services Account, the Physician Services Account, the Health Education Account, the Research Account, the Public Resources Account, and the Unallocated Account, and requiring that money in those accounts be used for specified purposes. This bill would appropriate $24,803,000 from the fund for the 2000-01 fiscal year, and would provide for the allocation of $22,324,000 of that amount through the California Healthcare for Indigents Program (CHIP) and $2,479,000 of that amount through the Rural Health Services (RHS) program. The bill would limit the use of those funds to the reimbursement of uncompensated hospital emergency services. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Appropriation: yes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. (a) The sum of twenty-four million eight hundred three thousand dollars ($24,803,000) is appropriated from the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund for allocation for the 2000-01 fiscal year from the following accounts: (1) Nine million fifteen thousand dollars ($9,015,000) from the Hospital Services Account. (2) Two million three hundred twenty-eight thousand dollars ($2,328,000) from the Physician Services Account. (3) Thirteen million four hundred sixty thousand dollars ($13,460,000) from the Unallocated Account. (b) Funds appropriated pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be allocated proportionately as follows: (1) Twenty-two million three hundred twenty-four thousand dollars ($22,324,000) shall be administered and allocated for distribution through the California Healthcare for Indigents Program (CHIP), Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 16940) of Part 4.7 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, as provided in this act. (2) Two million four hundred seventy-nine thousand dollars ($2,479,000) shall be administered and allocated through the Rural Health Services (RHS) program, Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 16930) of Part 4.7 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, as provided in this act. (c) Funds appropriated by this act from the Physician Services Account and the Unallocated Account in the Cigarette and Tobacco Product Surtax Fund shall be used only for the reimbursement of uncompensated emergency services as defined in Section 16953 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. Funds shall be transferred to the Physician Services Account in the county Emergency Medical Services Fund established pursuant to Sections 16951 and 16952 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. (d) Funds appropriated by this act from the Hospital Services Account in the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund shall be used only for reimbursement of uncompensated emergency services, as defined in Section 16953 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, provided in general acute care hospitals providing basic, comprehensive, or standby emergency services. Reimbursement for emergency services shall be consistent with the provisions of Section 16952 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: There is a well documented crisis in emergency medicine in California, including the closing of hospital emergency departments and the unavailability of on-call physician specialists to backup emergency physicians in hospital emergency departments. One of the causes of this crisis is a lack of funding for uninsured patients. In order that Proposition 99 funds may be allocated to emergency and on-call physicians as soon as possible, and help alleviate the crisis in emergency medicine, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.