Today, the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees held unusually long suspense file hearings, meeting today’s deadline for fiscal committees to hear and report all bills to the floor. During the hearings, hundreds of bills were either advanced or held for the remainder of the year. In the Assembly Appropriations Committee, Chair Lorena Gonzalez opted to…
Read More »A budget trailer bill to extend the managed care organization provider tax (MCO tax) is now in print (AB 115). Recall, during budget convenings, the Legislature expressed significant concerns with the Administration not pursing a renewal of the MCO tax, which expired in July of this year. The previous MCO tax offset state General Fund…
Read More »This week, Governor Gavin Newsom announced he was abandoning his plans to appoint a cabinet-level secretary dedicated to homelessness. In speaking with the press, Newsom instead indicated his Administration’s intent to rely on the already-established Commission on Homelessness and Supportive Housing led by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Newsom…
Read More »On Monday, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, District Court Judge Thad Balkman ruled that Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals sparked the state’s opioid crisis by deceptively marketing opioid products, ordering the company to pay the State of Oklahoma $572 million. The amount ordered by the judge fell well short of the $17.5 billion initially sought by…
Read More »This morning, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a nationwide health advisory related to the multistate outbreak of severe pulmonary injury associated with use of electronic cigarette products (devices, liquids, refill pods, and cartridges) containing nicotine or cannabis. The CDC advisory details outbreak background and recommendations for clinicians, public health officials,…
Read More »On Thursday, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams issued a national health advisory, warning that consuming cannabis is particularly dangerous to pregnant women, developing babies, and teenagers. Surgeon General Adams, during a news conference, expressed concern that many Americans are unaware of the health hazards posed by professionally grown cannabis crops, describing today’s cannabis as far…
Read More »U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Dr. Nancy Messonnier this week indicated there is a “reasonable chance” the United States will lose its measles elimination status in October 2019, largely caused by ongoing measles outbreaks in New York. Recall, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared…
Read More »The California State Association of Counties (CSAC), CHEAC, California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (CAPH), County Behavioral Health Directors Association (CBHDA), and the County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA) released this week a summary document of the final public charge rule that was published in the Federal Register earlier this month. Recall, the Trump…
Read More »A new study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research recently found that Latinos in California continue to fall behind other racial and ethnic groups in coverage and access to healthcare despite significant health insurance coverage gains provided under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). According to the center, Latinos in California are less likely…
Read More »The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Violence Prevention Initiative (VPI) will hold a Community of Practice webinar on Thursday, September 19 from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm on “Homicide Prevention – Part I: Using Data to Drive Violence Prevention Program Planning.” The webinar will feature available data sources on homicide rates and mechanisms as…
Read More »