BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 769|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 769
Author: Alquist (D)
Amended: 6/24/09 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 11-0, 4/22/09
AYES: Alquist, Strickland, Aanestad, Cedillo, Cox,
DeSaulnier, Leno, Maldonado, Negrete McLeod, Pavley, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR : 36-0, 6/1/09
AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, Benoit, Calderon,
Cedillo, Cogdill, Corbett, Cox, Denham, DeSaulnier,
Dutton, Florez, Hancock, Harman, Hollingsworth, Huff,
Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal, Maldonado, Negrete McLeod,
Oropeza, Padilla, Pavley, Romero, Runner, Simitian,
Steinberg, Strickland, Wiggins, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Correa, Ducheny, Walters, Vacancy
SENATE FLOOR : 26-1 (FAIL), 9/12/09
AYES: Alquist, Calderon, Cedillo, Corbett, Correa,
DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Florez, Hancock, Kehoe, Leno, Liu,
Lowenthal, Maldonado, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla,
Pavley, Price, Romero, Simitian, Steinberg, Wiggins,
Wolk, Wright, Yee
NOES: Strickland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aanestad, Ashburn, Benoit, Cogdill, Cox,
Denham, Dutton, Harman, Hollingsworth, Huff, Runner,
Walters, Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 6/28/10 - See last page for vote
CONTINUED
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SUBJECT : Federal funding: supplemental appropriations:
pandemic
flue
SOURCE : Health Officers Association of California
DIGEST : This bill provides that federal funding received
pursuant to the federal Supplemental Appropriations Act,
2009 (Public Law 111-32) for pandemic flu preparedness and
response is subject to appropriation by the Legislature for
allocation by the Department of Public Health pursuant to
the 2008-09 federally approved collaborative state-local
plan.
Assembly Amendments delete the prior version of the bill
and recast the bill in its current form and added an
urgency clause. The amendments also clarify operation
dates and add an appropriation.
ANALYSIS : Under existing federal law, the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (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, and 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.
This bill:
1. Requires federal funding received pursuant to the
federal Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009 for
pandemic flu preparedness and response to be subject to
appropriation by the Legislature for allocation by the
Department of Public Health (DPH) pursuant to the
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2008-09 federally approved collaborative state-local
plan.
2. Authorizes DPH to establish a minimum allocation of
$100,000 to a local health jurisdiction (LHJ), as
specified.
3. Requires DPH to expand its electronic communications
capacity to accommodate every hospital and primary care
clinic during a public health emergency.
4. Requires funds received for pandemic flu response, in
the case that a LHJ does not apply for all of its
authorized allocation, to be made available by DPH to
other LHJs that apply for them.
5. Permits any addition funds not allocated to LHJ to be
used by DPH for pandemic flu response activities.
6. Extends the operative date of existing law governing the
receipt of federal funds for bioterrorism preparedness
and emergency response from September 1, 2010 to
September 1, 2012.
Background
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
summary of the House Committee on Appropriations, the money
allocated for healthcare-related activities is distributed
as follows:
1. Health Information Technology: $19 billion to jumpstart
efforts to computerize health records.
2. 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.
3. Healthcare Effectiveness Research: $1.1 billion for
Healthcare Research and Quality programs to compare the
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effectiveness of different medical treatments.
4. Community Health Centers: $2 billion for the provision
of services to the uninsured, renovate clinics, and make
health information technology improvements.
5. Training Primary Care Providers: $500 million to
address workforce shortages and future demand.
6. Indian Health Service: $500 million to modernize aging
hospitals and health clinics and make healthcare
technology upgrades to improve healthcare for
underserved rural populations.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, a
one-time allocation of $28 million in federal funding from
the federal Public Health and Social Services Fund related
to pandemic flu generally and the H1N1 virus specifically,
to be shared 30 percent -70 percent (state/county) among
DPH and LHJs. Additional unknown future distributions of
federal funding in the 30 percent -70 percent sharing
ratio. At this time, an additional $5.8 billion of federal
funds nationally has been set aside by Congress to support
additional public health activities related to pandemic
flu.
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/29/09)
Health Officers Association of California (source)
Board of Supervisor County of Santa Clara
Contra Costa Health Services
County of Contra Costa Board of Supervisors
County of San Diego
County of Yolo Health Department
Inyo County Public Division of Human and Health Services
Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency
Ventura County Public Health
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the Health Officers
Association of California (HOAC), hiring public health
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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.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR:
AYES: Adams, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gatto, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning,
Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner,
Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ammiano, Hall, Logue, Norby, Vacancy
CTW:do 6/29/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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