BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair


          AB 1793 (Yamada) - Public health: federal funding
          
          Amended: As introduced          Policy Vote: Health 9-0
          Urgency: Yes                    Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: July 2, 2012      Consultant: Brendan McCarthy
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary:  AB 1793, an urgency measure, would eliminate the 
          September 1, 2012 sunset date for the Department of Public 
          Health's authority to distribute certain federal funds for 
          emergency preparedness. The bill also authorizes long-term care 
          facilities to receive those funds.

          Fiscal Impact: 
              Ongoing costs between $70 million and $80 million per year 
              (all federal funds), based on past receipts of federal 
              funds.

              Minor cost pressures on existing funds to extend program 
              eligibility to long-term care facilities. Under federal law 
              and prior practice by the Department, long-term care 
              facilities have been eligible for these funds in the past.

          Background:  Under current law, the Department of Public Health 
          is authorized, subject to appropriation in the Budget Act, to 
          allocate specified federal funds to local governments, 
          hospitals, clinics, emergency medical systems, and poison 
          control centers. The federal funds are provided to the state to 
          support the public health system and prepare for bioterrorism 
          attacks and other public health emergencies.

          Over the last several years, the Department has received between 
          $70 million and $80 million per year in federal funding for this 
          purpose and has distributed those funds accordingly. Federal law 
          allows these funds to be distributed to long-term care 
          facilities and prior practice of the Department was to do so. 
          However, in 2011 the Department determined that existing state 
          law does not authorize long-term care facilities to receive 
          funding under the program.









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          Under current law the program is authorized until September 1, 
          2012.

          Proposed Law: 
              AB 1793 would eliminate the September 1, 2012 sunset date 
              for the Department of Public Health's authority to 
              distribute certain federal funds for emergency preparedness. 

              The bill would also authorize long-term care facilities to 
              receive funds under the program.
              The bill contains an urgency clause.