Condensed Legislative Hearings Continue, CHEAC’s Sponsored Measure Advances on Unanimous Vote

Both houses of the Legislature continued to convene several of their respective policy committees this week for their one house of origin hearing for the year. As we have noted, committees have significantly pared down the number of bills they will consider, and remote public participation is strongly encouraged. Next week will be the final week for policy committees to meet to consider bills from their house of origin, and the fiscal deadline will be the subsequent week (June 5).

Below, we highlight several bills of interest to CHEAC Members. This week’s full CHEAC Weekly Bill Chart is available here. As with last week, bills that are not moving forward per authors’ offices are indicated.

Communicable Disease Control

AB 2077 (Ting) as amended May 20, 2020 – SUPPORT

Assembly Member Ting’s AB 2077 passed out of the Assembly Health Committee this week on an 11-2 vote and moves on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. This bill, jointly sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance, HOAC, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, would repeal state law requiring a prescription for the sale of hypodermic needles or syringes, and it extends the sunset, until 01/01/2026, requiring pharmacies that furnish nonprescription syringes to provide written information or verbal counseling upon the sale on how to access drug treatment, access testing and treatment for HIV and hepatitis C, and how to safely dispose of sharps.

Public Health Workforce

AB 3224 (Rodriguez) as amended May 4, 2020 – SUPPORT

AB 3224 is jointly sponsored by CHEAC, HOAC, and SEIU California and would require the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to contract with an entity to conduct an evaluation of the adequacy of local health department infrastructure, including future staffing, workforce, and resource needs. The bill was heard in the Assembly Health Committee and passed out on a 15-0 vote. The measure moves on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Vital Statistics

AB 2376 (Flora) as introduced February 18, 2020 – SUPPORT

This bill, sponsored by the County Recorder’s Association, removes the sunset provision in statute allowing local registrars to accept an electronic acknowledgement, sworn under penalty of perjury, that the requester of a marriage, birth, or death certificate is an authorized person. AB 2376 passed out of the Assembly Health Committee on a 15-0 vote and now moves on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.