BILL NUMBER: SB 311	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 29, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 16, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Alquist

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2009

   An act to add Section 12693.265 to the Insurance Code, relating to
health care coverage.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 311, as amended, Alquist. Healthy Families Program: dental-only
coverage.
   Existing law, the federal Children's Health Insurance Program
Reauthorization Act of 2009, authorizes states with a separate
Children's Health Insurance Program to provide dental-only
supplemental coverage to children who are enrolled in group health
care coverage or health insurance coverage offered through an
employer and who would otherwise satisfy the requirements for being a
targeted low-income child, as specified.
   Existing law creates the Healthy Families Program, administered by
the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, to arrange for the
provision of health, dental, and vision benefits to eligible children
pursuant to the federal Children's Health Insurance Program.
   This bill would, contingent  on   upon 
the receipt and appropriation of funds, require the board to provide
dental-only coverage consistent with the federal Children's Health
Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, as specified, and
would authorize the board to adopt  emergency  regulations
to implement that requirement. 
   The 
    This  bill would also state the intent of the
Legislature to enact legislation that would implement other
provisions of the federal Children's Health Insurance Program
Reauthorization Act of 2009.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Congress and the President have reauthorized the federal
Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides funding for the
state's Healthy Families Program.
   (b) The reauthorization legislation has provided additional
funding for children's health insurance and additional flexibility to
states to improve and expand health care coverage for children.
   (c) Although more than nine of every 10 children in California
have health care coverage, about 683,000 children in the state are
without health care coverage according to 2007 data from the Center
for Health Policy Research at the University of California at Los
Angeles.
   (d) It is imperative that the state act to take advantage of the
increased federal funding and enhanced flexibility in administering
the federal Children's Health Insurance Program.
   (e) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that
would implement the key elements of the federal Children's Health
Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, including receiving
federal matching funds for enrolling eligible immigrant children,
implementing changes to citizen documentation requirements, ensuring
parity in state coverage, establishing new payment methods for
clinics participating in the Healthy Families Program, measuring
quality of care within public programs, and taking advantage of the
increased federal funding that is available to California, including
bonuses and targeted grant programs, such as performance bonuses and
outreach funding.
  SEC. 2.  Section 12693.265 is added to the Insurance Code, to read:

   12693.265.  (a) Subject to subdivisions (b) and (c), the board
shall provide dental-only coverage as authorized by Section 501 of
the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009
(Public Law 111-3). To be eligible to receive this coverage, a child
shall be an eligible child, as described in subdivision (a) of
Section 12693.70, except that the child shall be enrolled in  a
group health plan or  employer-sponsored coverage that does not
provide dental benefits or cost sharing that meets the requirements
of Section 12693.63 and its implementing regulations.
   (b) The board may adopt, and may only one time readopt,
regulations  ,   deemed to be emergency regulations,
 to implement subdivision (a).  The   This
 adoption and one-time readoption of a regulation authorized by
this subdivision is deemed to address an emergency, for purposes of
Sections 11346.1 and 11349.6 of the Government Code, and the board is
hereby exempted for this purpose from the requirements of
subdivision (b) of Section 11346.1 of the Government Code.
   (c) This section shall be implemented only if and to the extent
that federal financial participation is obtained and only if and to
the extent that funds are appropriated by the Legislature for
purposes of this section in the annual Budget Act or in another
statute.