BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1475|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1475
Author: Solorio (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 10-0, 6/10/09
AYES: Alquist, Strickland, Aanestad, Cedillo, Cox,
DeSaulnier, Leno, Maldonado, Negrete McLeod, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Pavley
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 5/4/09 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Emergency medical services
SOURCE : American College of Emergency Physicians,
California
Chapter, Inc.
DIGEST : This bill limits the reimbursement for
administering county Maddy Emergency Medical Services Funds
to actual administrative costs or ten percent, whichever is
lower, including additional penalty assessment funds
authorized until January 2014.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Exiting law authorizes counties to establish a Maddy
CONTINUED
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Emergency Medical Services Fund (Maddy Fund) for
reimbursement of emergency medical services (EMS)
related costs. Counties are authorized to levy seven
dollars for every $10, or fraction thereof, upon fines,
penalties and forfeitures collected for criminal
offenses for deposit into the Maddy Fund.
2. Requires costs of administering the Maddy Fund to be
reimbursed based on actual administrative costs, not to
exceed ten percent of the amount of the Maddy Fund.
3. Authorizes, until January 1, 2014, counties to levy an
additional penalty in the amount of two dollars for
every $10, or fraction thereof, upon fines, penalties,
and forfeitures collected for criminal offenses for
deposit into the Maddy Fund.
4. Requires costs of administering the additional two
dollars penalties in the Maddy Fund to be reimbursed
based on administrative costs, not to exceed ten percent
of the amount of the Maddy Fund.
This bill:
1. Makes language in the code section established for
additional penalties pertaining to the Maddy Fund
consistent with language in the code section established
for the original Maddy Fund penalty assessment, which
limits the reimbursement for administering Maddy Funds
to actual administrative costs.
2. Limits the reimbursement for administering the Maddy
Funds to actual administrative costs, or ten percent,
whichever is lower.
Background
In 1987, the Legislature concluded that EMS providers bore
higher costs for their services than did providers of other
medical services, but often received only partial or no
payment from patients. The state enacted a series of bills
to compensate physicians and medical facilities for EMS
provided to patients who do not have health insurance and
cannot pay for their medical care. SB 12 (Maddy), Chapter
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1240, Statutes of 1987, allows counties to establish EMS
funds, also known as Maddy Funds. Revenue sources for
Maddy Funds are penalty assessments on certain criminal and
traffic violations, and a portion of the fees from people
attending traffic violator schools.
Funds from penalty assessments must be used to reimburse
physicians and hospitals for patients who do not make
payment for EMS and have no third-party or government
source of payment. Fifty-eight percent of these funds,
after administrative costs, must be distributed to
physicians for emergency services, 25 percent to hospitals
providing disproportionate levels of trauma and EMS, and 17
percent to other EMS, including, but not limited to,
regional poison centers, as determined by each county.
Physicians can be reimbursed for up to 50 percent of the
losses submitted. Approximately 50 counties have
established Maddy Funds.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/11/09)
American College of Emergency Physicians, California
Chapter, Inc.
(source)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
this bill makes the language in the code concerning the
reimbursement of the administrative costs to the counties
for Maddy Funds consistent as it pertains to both the
supplemental penalty assessment funds and the underlying
Maddy Fund statute.
The California Chapter of the American College of Emergency
Physicians, sponsor of the bill, states that this
clarification will help ensure that counties understand how
to properly reimburse themselves for the administrative
costs related to the Maddy Fund.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AB 1475
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AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,
Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A.
Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Huffman
CTW:do 6/15/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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