BILL NUMBER: AB 158 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 1, 2007
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
and C prevention and management pilot program within its
Office of Multi-Cultural Multicultural
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 and C .
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
2011 .
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: 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
Multicultural Health, a hepatitis B and C
prevention and management pilot program to provide education,
outreach, counseling, and social services to ethnic populations that
are at high risk of hepatitis B and C 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
and C Prevention and Management Pilot Program Fund.
(b) The fund shall be available to the Office of
Multi-Cultural Multicultural 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 and C infection and other
high-risk groups, to promote public awareness and knowledge about the
value of hepatitis B and C immunization, risk factors,
the transmission and prevention of hepatitis B and C , and
the value of screening for early detection of hepatitis B and C
infection, and to conduct at least two of the following:
(1) Testing programs to screen the high chronic hepatitis B
or C 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 or C virus infection.
(C) Reducing the risk of dying from end-stage liver disease or
liver cancer among individuals with hepatitis B or C .
(D) Culturally appropriate health information for pregnant women
or those of childbearing age who are chronically infected with
hepatitis B or C to alleviate their fears of becoming
pregnant or raising a family.
(E) Referring persons with chronic hepatitis B or C 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 or
C in certain adult ethnic populations, and the importance of
prevention, detection, and medical management of hepatitis B and
C 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 2008
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 2008 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 2009-10 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 2009-10 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. January
1, 2011, reguarding implementation of, and recommendations for, the
pilot program. The department may contract with another entity to dra
ft the report.
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 and C Prevention
and Management Pilot Program Fund established pursuant to Section
122430.20 of the Health and Safety Code.