BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2706
Author: Roger Hernández (D)
Amended: 7/2/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 4-2, 6/25/14
AYES: Liu, Correa, Hancock, Monning
NOES: Wyland, Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Block
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 8/14/14
AYES: De León, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 57-20, 5/29/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Health care coverage options and enrollment
assistance
SOURCE : California Coverage & Health Initiatives
DIGEST : This bill requires schools to add to enrollment
forms, for the 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18 school years,
information about health care coverage options and enrollment
assistance, as specified.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
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1.Establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange, known as
Covered California, as an independent state entity to serve as
the marketplace for Californians to purchase health care
coverage and as a way to meet the personal responsibility
requirements of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act (ACA).
2.Authorizes school districts and county offices of education to
incorporate into the School Lunch Program application packet
or notification of eligibility that the student may qualify
for free or reduced-cost health coverage under the Covered
California.
This bill requires schools to add to enrollment forms, for the
2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18 school years, information about
health care coverage options and enrollment assistance.
Specifically, this bill:
1.Requires a public school, including a charter school, to add
an informational item to its enrollment forms, or amend an
existing enrollment form, in order to provide the parent
information about health care coverage options and enrollment
assistance.
2.Authorizes schools to either:
A. Use a template as specified.
B. Develop an informational item, or amend an existing
enrollment form.
1.Authorizes a school to include a factsheet with its enrollment
forms explaining basic information about affordable health
care coverage options for children and families.
2.Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
develop a standardized template for both of the following:
A. The informational item or amended existing enrollment
form.
B. The factsheet authorized by this bill.
1.Requires the CDE to make the templates available on its Web
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site on or before August 1, 2015, and, upon request, provide
written copies of the template to a school district.
2.Prohibits a school district from discriminating against a
student who does not have health care coverage or use any
information relating to a student's health care coverage or
interest in learning about health care coverage in any manner
that would bring harm to the student or the student's family.
3.Sunsets the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2019.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Template: Minor costs to CDE, to develop the required
templates, post them on its Web site, and make copies
available upon request.
Mandate: Potentially significant reimbursable state mandate
on the state's approximately 1,000 school districts, to
provide information about health care coverage options and
enrollment assistance.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/15/14)
California Coverage & Health Initiatives (source)
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
California School-Based Health Alliance
Children Now
El Monte Union High School District
El Rancho Unified School District
Health Access California
Lynwood Unified School District
PICO California,
The Children's Defense Fund
The Children's Partnership
United Ways of California
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/15/14)
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Association of California School Administrators
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : California Coverage & and Health
Initiatives state that this bill will diminish costs to the
state by reducing the number of children left out of coverage by
offering parents or legal guardians' information about health
care coverage options and information on how to connect with a
qualified community enrollment entity or counselor when
enrolling their child into
school through their school enrollment forms. They believe
offering families' information about health care coverage
options and information on how to connect with an enrollment
counselor can dramatically reduce barriers to coverage by
ensuring families know where to go to connect with school-based,
county, and community enrollers.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Association of California School
Administrators (ACSA) states:
School districts are faced with a myriad of fiscal challenges
and educational reforms. While this bill provides a laudable
goal, it crates another state mandated program and will create
significant workload issues for school districts. School
district leadership is in the midst of implementing the Local
Control Funding Formula, adopting Local Control and
Accountability Plans and increasing retirement contributions
in an effort to address the California State Teachers
Retirement System's unfunded liability. Meanwhile, public
education in California is being funded at the bottom of
per-pupil funding in the nation.
ACSA believes that schools can be excellent partners in local
community efforts to enroll children in health care programs
however; this should not be a mandated program when the
compliance with the ACA is best addressed by other local
agencies.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 57-20, 5/29/14
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla,
Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray,
Hall, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
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Lowenthal, Medina, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea,
John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Chávez, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Beth
Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Jones, Linder, Logue, Maienschein,
Mansoor, Melendez, Nestande, Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harkey, Olsen, Vacancy
PQ:k 8/16/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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