BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2786
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2786 (Committee on Health) - As Amended: April 14, 2010
Policy Committee: Health Vote:18-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California Department of Public Health to
establish a list of communicable diseases for which clinical
laboratories are required to submit a specimen to a local public
health laboratory. In addition, this bill provides DPH the
authority to modify the list of required specimens without going
through the regulatory process under the Administrative
Procedures Act (APA).
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor absorbable costs to the Department of Public Health (DPH)
to establish and modify the list of required specimens. Under
current law, several dozen diseases are reportable by mandate
and a subset of these requires submission of specimens. While
the mandatory disease listing has changed over time, the
universe of diseases under consideration is fairly stable. This
bill provides DPH greater flexibility to account for a public
health emergency.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This bill is sponsored by the Health Officers
Association of California. This bill increases the capacity of
state DPH and local health officers to respond to an outbreak
of certain serious diseases and requirements related to the
collection and examination of specimens. Under current law DPH
is not authorized to add or delete required specimens without
going through a lengthy regulatory process.
2)Infectious Disease Reporting . The federal Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) are responsible for the collection and
publication of data concerning nationally notifiable diseases.
The list of such diseases is revised periodically. Reporting
of diseases to CDC by states is voluntary.
AB 2786
Page 2
Mandatory reporting is required only at the state level.
Therefore the list of reportable diseases varies by state. All
states generally report the diseases subject to quarantine
(i.e., cholera, plague, and yellow fever) in compliance with
the World Health Organization's international health
regulations. The list of communicable diseases and conditions
for which California laboratories must submit cultures is
established by regulation and adding or deleting a disease or
condition requires regulatory change under APA. According to
the sponsor, it sometimes takes 18 to 24 months for DPH to
update the list of reportable diseases. This bill reduces the
time to add or modify specimens required for collection.
3)Related Legislation . AB 356 (Negrete McLeod) was similar to
this bill and was vetoed with a budget delay related message
and with no specific feedback about the legislation.
Analysis Prepared by : Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081