BILL NUMBER: AB 158 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ma
JANUARY 18, 2007
An act to add Part 8 (commencing with Section 122430.10) to
Division 105 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public
health , and making an appropriation therefor .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 158, as amended, Ma. Public health.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and
sets forth its duties and responsibilities, including, but not
limited to, responsibilities related to the development and
implementation of a hepatitis C public education and outreach
program.
This bill would require the department to establish a hepatitis B
prevention and management pilot program within its Office of
Multi-Cultural Health to provide matching grants to public and
not-for-profit organizations in the Los Angeles area and the San
Francisco Bay area for the purposes of providing culturally and
language appropriate public awareness and other activities relating
to the prevention and management of hepatitis B.
This bill would establish the Hepatitis B Prevention and
Management Pilot Program Fund, the moneys in which would be used by
the department exclusively for purposes of this bill, and would
appropriate $4,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for
deposit into the fund. The bill would require the department to
report to the Legislature by January 1, 2010.
Existing law establishes a Legislative Task Force on Diabetes and
Obesity, consisting of specified members, to study the factors
contributing to the high rates of diabetes and obesity in Latinos,
African-Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans in
this country, and declares that the task force is to prepare a report
containing recommendations regarding ways to reduce the incidence of
those debilitating conditions in these ethnic groups.
Existing law establishes various public health programs
administered by the State Department of Health Services, with
administration of these programs to be transferred to the State
Department of Public Health on July 1, 2007.
This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would, among other things, establish a program,
administered by the State Department of Public Health, to provide
education, outreach, counseling, and social services to ethnic
populations that are at high risk of hepatitis and diabetes.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no yes . Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Part 8 (commencing with Section
122430.10) is added to Division 105 of the Health and
Safety Code , to read:
PART 8. HEPATITIS B
122430.10. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Approximately 1.4 million Americans are chronically infected
with the hepatitis B virus (HBV).
(b) HBV is extremely infectious, transmitted from mother to
newborn at birth, through infected blood or injections contaminated
by infected blood, and through unprotected sex.
(c) Persons chronically infected with HBV are at a higher risk of
developing cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer.
(d) Asian Pacific Islander Americans make up more than one-half of
HBV carriers in the United States.
(e) Liver cancer that is primarily caused by HBV is the leading
cause of cancer death among Asian Pacific Islander men living in
California and is the most significant health disparity between Asian
Pacific Islanders and Caucasians.
(f) Chinese Americans have a three to four times higher risk for
liver cancer caused by HBV than Caucasian Americans.
(g) Korean Americans have a five to six times higher risk for
liver cancer caused by HBV than Caucasian Americans.
(h) Vietnamese Americans have a seven to eight times higher risk
for liver cancer caused by HBV than Caucasian Americans.
(i) There exists a vaccination for HBV that is safe, effective,
and widely available.
(j) Early diagnosis of HBV can reduce the risk of further
transmission and, where appropriate, treatment can reduce the risk of
progression to liver cancer. HBV diagnosis can be made with a simple
blood test.
(k) Regular monitoring of those chronically infected with HBV can
lead to the detection of liver cancer at a stage where cure is still
possible.
(l) The annual health care cost attributable to HBV in the United
States is estimated to be approximately $2.5 billion.
122430.15. (a) The State Department of Public Health shall
establish within its Office of Multi-Cultural Health, a hepatitis B
prevention and management pilot program to provide education,
outreach, counseling, and social services to ethnic populations that
are at high risk of hepatitis B infection and to individuals among
those populations suffering from this disease.
(b) The program shall utilize existing programs and systems
operated by public and not-for-profit organizations to provide the
services described in subdivision (a).
(c) The department shall make and administer grants to the public
and not-for-profit organizations from funds appropriated by the
Legislature or donated to the state in order to provide these
services.
122430.20. (a) There is hereby established the Hepatitis B
Prevention and Management Pilot Program Fund.
(b) The fund shall be available to the Office of Multi-Cultural
Health in the department, upon appropriation of the Legislature,
exclusively for to the support of existing and ongoing programs
operated by nonprofit or academic organizations that provide
culturally and language appropriate health education, public
awareness campaigns, and community outreach activities, especially to
the ethnic communities with high rates of hepatitis B infection and
other high-risk groups, to promote public awareness and knowledge
about the value of hepatitis B immunization, risk factors, the
transmission and prevention of hepatitis B, and the value of
screening for early detection of hepatitis B infection, and to
conduct at least two of the following:
(1) Testing programs to screen the high chronic hepatitis B
prevalence populations in order to identify chronically infected
individuals, and provide vaccines to protect susceptible adults.
(2) Programs for high-prevalence populations that provide
client-centered information, education, and counseling concentrating
on any of the following:
(A) Testing of family members.
(B) Modifying behaviors that place individuals at risk of
hepatitis B virus infection.
(C) Reducing the risk of dying from end-stage liver disease or
liver cancer among individuals with hepatitis B.
(D) Culturally appropriate health information for pregnant women
or those of childbearing age who are chronically infected with
hepatitis B to alleviate their fears of becoming pregnant or raising
a family.
(E) Referring persons with chronic hepatitis B for further medical
evaluation, monitoring, and treatment, as appropriate.
(3) The training of health care professionals and health educators
to make them aware of the high rates of chronic hepatitis B in
certain adult ethnic populations, and the importance of prevention,
detection, and medical management of hepatitis B and of liver cancer
screening.
(c) Funds appropriated to the fund shall be distributed to
nonprofit or academic organizations in the greater Los Angeles and
San Francisco Bay areas that during 2007 met the requirement set
forth in subdivision (b) and have conducted at least two or more of
the programs set forth in subdivision (b).
(d) In order to receive distributions from the fund, a recipient
organization shall do all of the following:
(1) Submit audited financial statements setting forth its
expenditures made in 2007 for activities described in subdivision (b)
to demonstrate a history of successfully providing those services,
including, but not limited to, conducting two or more of the programs
as set forth in subdivision (b), along with a report on the specific
activities engaged in and an analysis of the impact of the programs
and activities.
(2) Commit to using all distributions from the fund in the 2008-09
fiscal year to meet the requirements of subdivision (b), including
conducting two or more of the programs set forth in subdivision (b).
(3) Submit audited financial statements setting forth expenditures
made in the 2008-09 fiscal year demonstrating that it has met the
requirements of subdivision (b), including, but not limited to,
successfully conducting two or more of the programs set forth in
subdivision (b) during that fiscal year.
122430.25. Distributions from the fund shall be on a matching
dollar-for-dollar basis for each organization's expenditures up to
the total amount of funds available in the fund. However, funds shall
be distributed equally between the two geographic areas.
122430.30. The department shall report to the Legislature by
January 1, 2010, regarding implementation, and recommendations
regarding, the pilot program.
SEC. 2. The sum of four million dollars
($4,000,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the
State Department of Public Health for deposit into the Hepatitis B
Prevention and Management Pilot Program Fund established pursuant to
Section 122430.20 of the Health and Safety Code.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(a) Asian Pacific Islander Americans make up more than one-half of
the 1.4 million hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers in the United
States; 1 out of 10 are chronically infected.
(b) Liver cancer that is primarily caused by HBV is the leading
cause of cancer death among Asian Pacific Islander men living in
California and is the most significant health disparity between Asian
Pacific Islanders and Caucasians.
(c) Chinese Americans have a five to six times higher risk for
liver cancer caused by HBV than Caucasian Americans.
(d) Korean Americans have an eight times higher risk for liver
cancer caused by HBV than Caucasian Americans.
(e) Vietnamese Americans have a 13 times higher risk for liver
cancer caused by HBV than Caucasian Americans.
(f) African-Americans (10.3 percent) and Native Americans (9.3
percent) living in California have higher rates of diabetes compared
to Caucasians (5.6 percent).
(g) Hispanic/Latino Americans are 1.7 times more likely to have
diabetes compared to Caucasians.
(h) Gestational diabetes occurs more frequently among
Hispanic/Latino Americans, African-Americans, and Native Americans.
SEC. 2. It is the intent of the Legislature to
enact legislation that would do all of the following:
(a) Establish a program to provide education, outreach,
counseling, and social services to ethnic populations that are at
high risk of hepatitis and diabetes and to individuals among those
populations suffering from these diseases.
(b) Utilize existing programs and systems operated by public and
not-for-profit organizations to provide the services described in
subdivision (a).
(c) Direct the State Department of Public Health to make and
administer grants to the public and not-for-profit organizations from
funds appropriated by the Legislature or donated to the state in
order to provide these services.