BILL NUMBER: SB 502	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 25, 2011
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 24, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Senators Pavley and De León
    (   Coauthor:   Senator   Alquist
  ) 

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2011

   An act to add Section 123366 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to public health.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 502, as amended, Pavley. Hospital Infant Feeding 
Protection  Act.
   Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health
facilities, including hospitals, by the State Department of Public
Health. Existing law requires all general acute care hospitals and
special hospitals providing maternity care to make available a
breast-feeding consultant, or alternatively, to provide information
to the mother on where to receive breast-feeding information.
   This bill would require all general acute care hospitals and
special hospitals that have perinatal units, as defined, to have an
infant-feeding policy and to clearly post that policy. This bill
would require that the infant-feeding policy be routinely
communicated to all perinatal unit staff and that the infant-feeding
policy apply to all infants in a perinatal unit. This bill would
become operative January 1, 2014.
   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 finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) A growing body of evidence indicates that early infant-feeding
practices can affect later growth and development, particularly with
regard to obesity.
   (b) The United States Surgeon General, and all the major health
organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics and 
the  World Health Organization, recommend exclusive
breast-feeding for most babies, unless specifically contraindicated,
for the first six months and continued breast-feeding with the
addition of appropriate foods up to at least one year of age.
   (c) The United States Healthy People 2020 goals for breastfeeding
set new targets for decreased formula supplementation within the
first two days of life and increased number of births in facilities
that provide recommended lactation care.
   (d) The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitor
hospital practices at the state and national level with the
Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) survey.
Whereas mPINC benchmarks suggest that 10 percent or fewer of
breast-feeding infants should receive supplemental formula, fewer
than 10 percent of California hospitals reach that goal.  In
eight California hospitals, at least 90 percent of breast-fed infants
are given supplemental formula during the hospital stay. 
   (e) The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global
program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to encourage and recognize
hospitals that offer an optimal level of care for infant feeding.
Baby-Friendly USA is the national authority for the BFHI in the
United States.  More than 19,000 maternity facilities
worldwide, and 34 in California, have received Baby-Friendly
accreditation.   To date, 34 hospitals in California
have received Baby-Friendly accreditation. 
   (f) In April 2010, the Joint Commission, the accreditation
organization for hospitals, began including exclusive breast-feeding
rates as part of its perinatal care core evaluation indicators for
maternity hospitals.
  SEC. 2.  Section 123366 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   123366.  (a) This section shall be known, and may be cited as, the
Hospital Infant Feeding  Protection  Act.
   (b) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions
shall apply:
   (1) "Perinatal unit" means a maternity  or  
and  newborn service of the hospital for the provision of care
during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum and neonatal
periods with appropriate staff, space, equipment, and supplies.
   (2) "Baby-Friendly Hospitals" means facilities that have been
awarded accreditation by Baby-Friendly USA, the national authority
for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative sponsored by the World
Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund.
   (3) "Model Hospital Policy Recommendations" means the most
recently updated guidelines approved and published by the State
Department of Public Health entitled, "Providing Breastfeeding
Support: Model Hospital Policy Recommendations."
   (c) All general acute care hospitals and special hospitals, as
defined in subdivisions (a) and (f) of Section 1250, that have a
perinatal unit shall have an infant-feeding policy and shall clearly
post that policy. The infant-feeding policy may include the
guidelines provided by the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative or the
State Department of Public Health Model Hospital Policy
Recommendations.
   (d) The infant-feeding policy shall be routinely communicated to
all perinatal unit staff.
   (e) The infant-feeding policy shall apply to all infants in a
perinatal unit.
   (f) This section shall become operative January 1, 2014.