BILL ANALYSIS
SB 486
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 1, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
SB 486 (Simitian) - As Amended: July 1, 2009
Policy Committee: Environmental
Safety Vote: 6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires a pharmaceutical manufacturer to report on
its activities for the collection and disposal of home-generated
medical sharps. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a pharmaceutical manufacturer that sells or
distributes in California medication that is intended to be
self-injected at home by use of a hypodermic needle or similar
device to report annually to the California Integrated Waste
Management Board (CIWMB). The plan is to describe the
manufacturer's actions to support the safe collection and
proper disposal of such devices for medications not covered
under Medicare Part B.
2) Requires such a manufacturer to post a copy of the plan on
its Web site.
3)Requires CIWMB to post copies of these plans on its Web site.
FISCAL EFFECT
Annual costs of about $150,000 to CIWMB to receive reports from
manufacturers and to post them on its Web site.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author notes that state law prohibits the
disposal of medical "sharps" in the solid waste stream.
However, the author contends there is no convenient, cost
effective method to manage the disposal of sharps used by
consumers in their homes, making safe and proper disposal of
SB 486
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such devices difficult and uncertain. The author further
contends this bill will help identify and publicize the
collection and disposal efforts of manufacturers of
home-generated sharps, which would allow development of a
system for consumers to properly dispose of these devices.
2)Background.
a) Despite Ban, Many Sharps Wind Up In the Garbage . State
law defines "home-generated sharps waste" to mean
hypodermic needles, pen needles, intravenous needles,
lancets, and other devices that are used to penetrate the
skin for the delivery of medications derived from a
household, and prohibits the disposal of such devices in
the solid waste or recycling stream. Hospitals and other
health facilities, pharmacies, fire stations, and existing
city and county household hazardous waste programs may
accept home-generated sharps for disposal. Nonetheless,
tens of thousands of sharps wind up in California household
waste, where they may prick, and possibly infect, garbage
disposal workers or others who come into contact with the
waste.
b) Medicare Part B. Medicare is a federal insurance
program that primarily serves people over 65 and younger
disabled people and dialysis patients. According to the
U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Medicare Part
A helps cover inpatient care in hospitals, critical access
hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, hospice care and
some home health care. Medicare Part B helps cover medical
services like doctors' services, outpatient care, and other
medical services that Medicare Part A doesn't cover.
According to the author, the bill refers to devices for
medications not covered under Medicare Part B so as to
clarify that the bill applies only to medications typically
administered at home, as opposed to in a health care
facility.
3)But the Waste Board No Longer Exists. As described above,
this bill requires certain actions of the Waste Board. The
recently enacted budget, however, eliminates the Waste Board.
Absent amendments that specify which agency is to carry out
the actions described by this bill, it is unclear how this
bill would be implemented
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4)Related Legislation.
a) SB 1305 (Figueroa, Chapter 64, Statutes of 2006)
prohibits a person from knowingly placing home-generated
sharps waste in the commercial and residential solid waste
collection containers.
b) AB 501 (Swanson, 2008) would have required a
pharmaceutical manufacturer, upon request of a consumer who
has been dispensed a prefilled injection device for home
administration (such as a prefilled syringe), to arrange to
provide the consumer with a sharps container, a coupon for
a sharps container or a toll-free telephone number or Web
site on the device package that directs the patient to a
sharps container supplier. The bill was vetoed.
5)Supporters , including a number of labor, commercial, patient
and environmental organizations, claim this bill will help in
the development of an adequate system that ensures the safe
and proper disposal of home-generated sharps.
There is no registered opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081