BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HEALTH
COMMITTEE ANALYSIS
Senator Elaine K. Alquist, Chair
BILL NO: SB 769
S
AUTHOR: Alquist
B
AMENDED: April 2, 2009
HEARING DATE: April 22, 2009
7
CONSULTANT:
6
Moreno/
9
SUBJECT
Federal funding: economic stimulus: local health
administration
SUMMARY
Requires federal funding received pursuant to the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), for
purposes of chronic disease prevention and wellness, to be
subject to appropriation by the Legislature commencing with
the 2009-10 fiscal year.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing federal law:
Under the Recovery Act, makes supplemental appropriations
for job preservation and creation, infrastructure
investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to
the unemployed, and state and local fiscal stabilization,
for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.
Existing state law:
Establishes local health departments to protect and
preserve the public health. Provides for the allocation
of state aid to local health departments according to a
specified formula for prescribed purposes, including
communicable disease control activities and community and
public health surveillance activities.
Continued---
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL SB 769 (Alquist)Page 2
This bill:
Requires federal funding received pursuant to the Recovery
Act, for purposes of chronic disease prevention and
wellness, to be subject to appropriation by the Legislature
commencing with the 2009-10 fiscal year.
Provides that its provisions apply when federal funding is
allocated and expended for disease control and prevention
activities by local health jurisdictions and specifies that
funds appropriated for those purposes cannot be used to
supplant funding for existing levels of service.
Requires allocations to be made by the Department of Public
Health (DPH) to the administrative bodies of qualifying
local health jurisdictions and requires funds to be used
for activities to improve and enhance evidence-based
clinical and community-based prevention and wellness
strategies authorized by the federal Public Health Services
Act that deliver specific measurable health outcomes that
address chronic disease rates.
FISCAL IMPACT
Unknown.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
According to the author, this bill will provide guidelines
for the distribution of federal stimulus funds to be used
for chronic disease control and prevention activities at
the local level. The federal stimulus bill states that
$650 million "shall be [used] to carry out evidence-based
clinical and community-based prevention and wellness
strategies? that deliver specific, measurable health
outcomes that address chronic disease rates."
This bill is to ensure that a maximum amount of the funds
allocated by the Recovery Act to California for this
purpose are passed along to the local health officers, who
are at the front line of these activities.
Recovery Act of 2009
The Recovery Act includes spending increases and tax
relief, intended to spur an economic recovery and create
jobs. The final bill includes $507 billion in spending
programs and $282 billion in tax relief. According to a
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL SB 769 (Alquist)Page 3
summary of the House Committee on Appropriations, the money
allocated for healthcare-related activities is distributed
as follows:
o Health Information Technology: $19 billion to jumpstart
efforts to computerize health records.
o Prevention and Wellness Fund: $1 billion to fight
preventable chronic diseases and infectious diseases. Of
this amount, $300 million goes towards immunization
programs and $650 million goes towards clinical and
community-based prevention and wellness strategies.
o Healthcare Effectiveness Research: $1.1 billion for
Healthcare Research and Quality programs to compare the
effectiveness of different medical treatments.
o Community Health Centers: $2 billion for the provision of
services to the uninsured, renovate clinics, and make
health information technology improvements.
o Training Primary Care Providers: $500 million to address
workforce shortages and future demand.
o Indian Health Service: $500 million to modernize aging
hospitals and health clinics and make healthcare
technology upgrades to improve healthcare for underserved
rural populations.
Arguments in support
According to the Health Officers Association of California
(HOAC), hiring public health nurses and other professionals
will immediately stimulate the economy by providing an
infusion of money to local health departments that have
been forced to slash their workforce as a result of the
economic downturn. HOAC writes that this bill will make
sure that public health funding provided by the federal
government will be used where it can do the most good, both
for the economy and for public health.
COMMENTS
1.Work in progress. The author has introduced this bill to
provide a vehicle for the prevention and wellness funding
that will be going to the states under the Recovery Act.
At this point, it is not clear how much prevention and
wellness funding will be allocated to public health
entities at the federal level and how much will be
allocated to states. Once guidance is received from the
federal government this bill is likely to be amended.
POSITIONS
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL SB 769 (Alquist)Page 4
Support: Health Officers Association of California
(sponsor)
Oppose: None received
-- END --