BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1438
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1438 (Pavley)
As Amended August 22, 2014
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE : 31-0
HEALTH 17-0 JUDICIARY 9-0
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|Ayes:|Pan, Maienschein, |Ayes:|Wieckowski, Wagner, |
| |Ammiano, Bonilla, Bonta, | |Alejo, Chau, Dickinson, |
| |Chesbro, Gomez, Gonzalez, | |Garcia, Maienschein, |
| |Roger Hern�ndez, | |Muratsuchi, Stone |
| |Lowenthal, Mansoor, | | |
| |Nazarian, Nestande, | | |
| |Patterson, Ridley-Thomas, | | |
| |Rodriguez, Wieckowski | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, | |
| |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian | |
| |Calderon, Campos, | |
| |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, | |
| |Holden, Jones, Linder, | |
| |Pan, Quirk, | |
| |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, | |
| |Weber | |
| | | |
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SUMMARY : Adds peace officers to those allowed to administer an
opioid antagonist to a person at risk of an opioid-related
overdose. Requires the Emergency Medical Services Authority
(EMSA) to develop and adopt training and standards for all
prehospital emergency care personnel regarding the use and
administration of naloxone hydrochloride (naloxone) and other
opioid antagonists and to include the administration of naloxone
in the training and scope of practice, consistent with current
law, for emergency medical technician I (EMT-I) certification.
Requires the Attorney General to authorize hospitals and trauma
centers to share data on controlled substance overdose trends
with local law enforcement agencies and local emergency medical
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services agencies, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)One-time staff costs, not likely to exceed $100,000 for EMSA
to issue regulations.
2)Local and private costs will be incurred as well. Local and
private EMS [Emergency Medical Services] agencies who have not
adopted naloxone administration on a voluntary basis will
incur costs for policy development and revising training
curriculum. EMT-Is will incur a cost of $50-80 each for the
additional training. These costs are not state-reimbursable.
COMMENTS : According to the author, California and the nation
are in the midst of a drug abuse crisis. Drug overdoses are the
leading cause of accidental death in the United States (U.S.),
killing about 38,000 people each year. Prescription opioid and
heroin abuse have precipitated a public health epidemic marked
by a spike in fatal overdoses. While naloxone, an opiate
antidote that reverses opiate overdoses, has been used by
paramedics and advanced emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to
save lives for the last few decades, current law is unclear
about the ability of other first emergency responders, such as
law enforcement, to use this medication. According to the
sponsor, the California Professional Firefighters (CPF), under
current law, a doctor can prescribe naloxone to a patient, their
family member, or a friend to assist a person who is at risk of
an opioid overdose and those individuals may also take part in a
training program for the administration of opioid antagonists.
CPF states that this bill would add prehospital care personnel
to the list of people who can receive a prescription and
training for an opioid antagonist for the purposes of assisting
a person at risk of an overdose.
While paramedics and EMTs are often the first to respond to a
medical emergency, some localities report that peace officers
are increasingly the first to encounter an overdose victim. A
recent internal survey within the San Diego Sheriff's Department
found that sheriff's deputies responded to over 200
overdose-related emergency calls in the first nine months of
2013. In over 50% of those cases, the sheriff's deputy was the
first emergency responder on the scene. Last month, in
recognition of the nationwide surge in opiate overdoses, U.S.
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Attorney General Eric Holder echoed the plea made by the
director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy to train and equip law enforcement officers with
naloxone.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, naloxone,
which is not a controlled substance, rapidly reverses the
effects of opioid overdose and is the standard treatment for
overdose, which is characterized by decreased breathing or heart
rate or loss of consciousness. When administered quickly and
effectively, naloxone immediately restores breathing to a victim
in the throes of an opioid overdose. According to the Drug
Policy Alliance's (DPA) Internet Web site, naloxone has been
safely and effectively used for more than 40 years in ambulances
and emergency rooms across the country. Naloxone has no
potential for abuse and side effects are rare. The Drug Policy
Alliance also cites ongoing research showing that expanding
access to naloxone does not promote increased drug use or
risk-taking behavior that results in unintended overdoses.
Law enforcement agencies in other states have been successfully
carrying and administering naloxone. The police officers in
Quincy, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, have been carrying a
nasal form of naloxone since October 2010. Quincy officers have
administered the drug 221 times and reversed 211 overdoses. In
New York, Staten Island police officers have been trained to
administer the spray as part of a pilot program to fight the
high rate of painkiller abuse.
DPA writes that this bill is an urgently needed measure to allow
first responders to administer opiate overdose reversal
medication to a person at risk of a fatal overdose. The San
Diego Sheriff's Department writes in support of providing
naloxone to and the training of deputies and officers in the
administration of the opioid antagonist in order to help efforts
in San Diego County to stem the tide of overdose-related deaths
in their community. The San Diego Sheriff's Department recently
conducted an internal survey and found that their deputies
responded to over 200 overdose-related emergency calls in the
first nine months of 2013, and in over half of those cases the
deputy was the first emergency responder on the scene.
This bill has no known opposition.
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Analysis Prepared by : Patty Rodgers / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097
FN: 0005330