BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1540
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Date of Hearing: April 28, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AB 1540 (Assembly Health Committee) - As Amended: April 16,
2009
SUBJECT : Public Health
SUMMARY : Makes technical changes to a variety of health
programs and statutes. Specifically, this bill :
1)Exempts data collected by the Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development (OSHPD) relating to emergency rooms,
ambulatory surgeries and coronary artery bypass graft
surgeries from disclosure under the Public Records Act (PRA),
similar to the existing PRA exemption for inpatient discharge
data.
2)Authorizes the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) to
amend, by regulation, any statutorily mandated notice,
specifically for purposes of clarity, readability, and
accuracy.
3)Clarifies that specialized health care plans and specialized
insurance policies, (i.e. dental and vision plans), are not
subject to the requirement of coverage for human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing.
4)Conforms existing state law to the federal Safe Drinking Water
Act (SDWA) by:
a) Limiting the types pf water suppliers who may certify
alternative water sources;
b) Providing penalties for violations of turbidity
standards for drinking water; and
c) Allowing point-of-use devices for water treatment to
meet drinking water standards.
5)Repeals the sunset date in existing law allowing public health
tuberculosis workers employed by, or contracted with, a local
public health department to administer tuberculosis skin
tests.
6)Extends the sunset date of the California Health Benefits
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Review Program (CHBRP) from January 1, 2011, to June 30, 2015.
7)Conforms provisions relating to Medi-Cal
physicians-in-good-standing filing a change of location form
to an existing requirement for all Medi-Cal providers to
obtain a single National Provider Identifier.
8)Repeals the sunset date for the Local Education Agency (LEA)
Medi-Cal billing option.
9)Makes other minor technical and non-substantive changes.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Exempts inpatient discharge data collected by OSHPD from the
PRA.
2)Allows DMHC to amend, by regulation, a statutorily mandated
notice that must be provided to patients who receive emergency
care at a non-contracting hospital for clarity, readability,
and accuracy.
3)Requires health plans and health insurers to provide coverage
for HIV testing regardless of whether the testing is related
to a primary diagnosis.
4)Establishes the Drinking Water Program within the Department
of Public Health (DPH) to regulate public drinking water
systems.
5)Extends the sunset date authorizing local health departments
to certify public health tuberculosis workers to place and
measure tuberculosis skin tests from January 1, 2006 to
January 1, 2011.
6)Establishes CHBRP to respond to requests from the Legislature
to provide independent analysis of the medical, financial, and
public health impacts of proposed health insurance benefit
mandates and repeals. Extends the CHBRP program until January
1, 2011.
7)Establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the
Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), which provides
health benefits to low-income children, their parents, or
caretaker relatives, pregnant women, elderly, blind or
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disabled persons, and other individuals who meet specified
eligibility criteria.
8)Establishes the LEA program to provide the federal share of
reimbursement for health assessment and treatment for Medi-Cal
eligible children and family members within the school
environment.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of this bill . This bill is authored by the Assembly
Committee on Health as omnibus clean-up legislation containing
technical or non-controversial changes to the laws affecting
various health and human services agencies including OSHPD,
DMHC, DHCS, and DPH. Many of the provisions make minor,
technical, and conforming changes, while other provisions are
substantive changes intended to improve the ability of the
various agencies to efficiently and effectively administer
their respective programs.
2)Drinking Water Standards : According to the DPH, which is
sponsoring the provisions of this bill related to drinking
water, the changes are needed to ensure that California
maintains its federally designated authority to implement a
drinking water program that conforms to the federal SDWA and
maintains laws and regulations that must be no less stringent
than the federal regulations.
AB 1540 would conform existing state statutes to federal laws.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) delegates
its authority to California to implement a drinking water
program. As a primacy state (having federally delegated
authority), California must enact laws and regulations related
to drinking water that conform to the SDWA and must be no less
stringent than the federal regulations.
Should California's laws or regulations fail to comply with
the federal SDWA, California may lose its primacy, which would
result in the loss of significant federal funds.
The issues that AB 1540 addresses to ensure federal compliance
are:
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a) The federal SDWA only allows a water system to certify
the alternative water, but current state law allows the
water district or "the residential or similar users of the
system" to certify the alternative water.
b) The federal SDWA requires the same penalty for
violations of drinking water turbidity standards as with
any other primary drinking water standard. The state does
not currently have the authority to do so for
non-continuing turbidity violations.
c) The federal SDWA allows a public water system to use
point-of-use devices for water treatment to meet drinking
water standards. California law does not allow the use of
these devices, which offer a feasible solution for ensuring
a safe domestic water supply when other solutions are
technically and/or economically impractical.
3)Technical Amendments:
Page 23 lines 32 and 38 after "citation" add: or order.
4)DOUBLE REFERRAL . This bill has been double-referred because
of the drinking water provisions. This bill was previously
considered and passed by the Assembly Health Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Hospital Association
California Society for Clinical Social Work
Department of Public Health
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg/ E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965