October 4, 2019 Edition
As a friendly
reminder, the 2019 CHEAC Annual Meeting will be held next Wednesday, October 9
through Friday, October 11 at the Westin Pasadena. Annual meeting attendees are
encouraged to reference the email with key reminders as they prepare to travel
to Pasadena.
Due to the Annual Meeting, the CHEAC Office will be closed for the remainder of the week beginning on Tuesday, October 8. Our regular weekly update will not be published next Friday. Please also note, the CHEAC Office will be closed on Monday, October 14 in observance of the Columbus Day holiday.
We look forward
to seeing attendees in Pasadena!
Governor Gavin
Newsom continues to take action on measures passed by the Legislature and faces
a deadline on Sunday, October 13 to sign or veto all measures advanced to his
desk. As a reminder, CHEAC will issue a final bill chart in mid-October
indicating all actions on tracked measures. Below, we highlight a number of
bills and actions taken by Governor Newsom to date:
Animal Care
and Control
AB 588 (Chen) – WATCH – Chapter 430, Statutes of 2019
AB 588, authored
by Assembly Member Phillip Chen, and sponsored by the California Animal Welfare
Association (CAWA), would require animal shelters to disclose in writing a
dog’s known bite history and the circumstances related to the bite prior to
selling, giving away, or otherwise releasing the dog. Any shelter, human
society shelter, or animal rescue group that violates these provisions may be
fined up to $500 to be imposed by the city or county in which the animal
shelter or rescue group is located. Governor Newson signed the measure into
law.
SB 64 (Chang) – WATCH – Vetoed
Governor Newsom
vetoed SB 64 authored by Senator Ling Ling Chang expressing concerns that the bill
had an unintended consequence of creating a burden for individuals who may
already be struggling with the basic costs of caring for their pets. The
measure would have required animal shelters, including animal control agencies
and rescue groups, to microchip dogs or cats prior to releasing the animal back
to an owner or to a new owner for adoption, sale, or release. Exceptions
include when a dog or cat is already microchipped or if a licensed veterinarian
certifies the animal is medical unfit for the procedure. It would have allowed
a shelter or rescue group that does not have microchipping capability on
location to enter into an agreement with the owner or new owner to present
proof, within 30 days, that the dog or cat is microchipped. Shelters or rescue
groups in violation of the requirements would have been subjected to a civil
penalty of $100 unless the shelter or rescue group does not have microchipping
capability on site.
Emergency
Medical Services (EMS)
SB 438 (Hertzberg) – NEUTRAL – Chapter 389, Statutes of 2019
SB 438,
authored by Senator Robert Hertzberg and sponsored by the California
Professional Firefighters (CPF), sought to restrict the use of non-governmental
operated public safety answering points (PSAPs) and circumscribes the existing
medical control authority of local EMS agency medical directors. Late
amendments resulting from negotiations by a county coalition, including CHEAC,
with the author and sponsors, would allow local EMS agencies to continue
private contractual arrangements but will also allow a public safety agency to
operate medical dispatch for their own jurisdiction. In addition, the measure
further clarifies that EMS medical dispatching, including call processing,
falls within the medical control of the local EMS medical director. Governor
Newsom signed SB 438 into law.
Environmental
Health
AB 834 (Quirk) – WATCH – Chapter 354, Statues of 2019
Governor Newsom
signed into law AB 834 by Assembly Member Bill Quirk which will require the
State Water Resources Control Board to establish a Freshwater and Estuarine
Harmful Algal Bloom Program and to work in consultation with the California
Department of Public Health (CDPH), Department of Water Resources, Department
of Fish and Wildlife, and other state and federal entities to conduct specified
activities related to harmful algal blooms.
AB 836 (Wicks) – WATCH – Chapter 393, Statutes of 2019
AB 836 by
Assembly Member Buffy Wicks was signed into law by Governor Newsom. The measure
establishes until January 2025 a pilot grant program to be administered by the
State Air Resources Board to provide funding, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to retrofit ventilation systems at various facilities (e.g. schools,
community centers, senior centers, libraries) to create a network of clean air
centers and mitigate adverse public health impacts due to wildfire and other
smoke events.
Health
Coverage/Health Care Reform
AB 1004 (McCarty) – SUPPORT – Chapter 387, Statutes of 2019
Assembly Member
Kevin McCarty authored AB 1004, which requires screening services under the
Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) Program to
include developmental screening services for individuals zero to three years of
age. The bill would also require Medi-Cal managed care plans to put in place
mechanisms to ensure timely and consistent development screenings for children.
Governor Newsom signed the measure into law.
AB 1088 (Wood) – SUPPORT – Chapter 450, Statutes of 2019
Governor Newsom
signed into law AB 1088, authored by Assembly Member Jim Wood and sponsored by
Western Center on Law & Poverty, Justice in Aging, and Disability Rights
California. The measure requires DHCS to seek a Medicaid state plan amendment
or waiver to implement an income disregard allowing an aged, blind, or disabled
individual who becomes ineligible for Medi-Cal who would otherwise be eligible
if not for the state buy-in of their Medicare Part B premiums.
Health
Equity
AB 241 (Kamlager-Dove) – SUPPORT – Chapter 417, Statutes of
2019
Governor Newsom
signed into law Assembly Member Sydney Kamlager-Dove’s AB 241 which would
require continuing education for physicians, surgeons, nurses, and physician
assistants to include information on understanding implicit bias and how biases
may contribute to healthcare disparities.
Vector
Control
AB 320 (Quirk) – SUPPORT – Chapter 422, Statutes of 2019
AB 320 by
Assembly Member Bill Quirk would establish the California Mosquito Surveillance
and Research program, to be administered by UC Davis, to maintain an
interactive website for the management and dissemination of mosquito-borne
virus and surveillance control data, provide confirmation of tests done by
local or state agencies, to work in conjunction with local mosquito abatement
and vector control districts to conduct research on arbovirus surveillance,
transmission of vector-borne diseases, and mosquito ecology and control.
Funding is contingent on federal, state or private funding obtained for these
purposes. Governor Newsom signed the measure into law.
The California
Department of Public Health (CDPH) released new data on California’s adolescent
birth rate, finding a record low of 13.9 births per 1,000 females between the
ages of 15-19. The record low reflects an 11.5 percent decline between 2016 and
2017. CDPH indicated the decline can be attributed to a number of factors
including improved access to reproductive health services, increased use of
contraception, delayed first sexual intercourse, and public health prevention,
education, and support programs.
The full CDPH
report, including detailed data and statistics, is available
here.
The Insure the
Uninsured Project (ITUP) this week opened registration for its 2020 Annual
Conference which will be held February 24 and 25 in Sacramento. The 24th
Annual Conference theme is Taking Bold Steps in Uncertain Times
and will explore the steps California is taking to improve health care and
coverage in the state against the backdrop of continuing uncertainty at the
federal level. Additional information and registration are available here.
The U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with the
National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) and others, launched the
2019-20 flu vaccine campaign to promote the CDC’s recommendation for everyone
age six months and older to get an annual flu vaccine. U.S. Secretary of Health
and Human Services Alex Azar announced during the launch that CDC flu
vaccination coverage estimates for 2018-19 indicated 45 percent of American
adults received a flu vaccine last season and nearly 63 percent of children
were vaccinated. Additional information on the campaign launch is available here.
The National
Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), with support from the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has announced a
continuation of a technical assistance opportunity, “Strong Systems, Stronger
Communities,” to local health departments. NACCHO will support LHDs in moving
upstream to address social determinants of health and health equity by
improving the implementation of the community health improvement plan. Each
team will hold an Equity Action Lab with their communities in which they will
identify a meaningful goal and design rapid-cycle improvement tests to achieve
gains within a short period of time.
Applications
are now open through October 25. NACCHO and CDC will host an optional webinar
on October 8 from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm to provide details around the RFP
process. Applications and additional information are available here.
The National
Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) recently released a toolkit
highlighting state initiatives to help older adults in rural communities age in
place by increasing services that help people remain in their homes, expanding
and professionalizing the caregiver workforce, improving transportation access
and services, and making delivery system reforms within Medicaid programs. The
report details a number of strategies, including using emergency personnel in
new ways, providing mobile adult day care and health services, and using
technology to address social determinants of health. The full toolkit is available here.
The Center for
Health Care Strategies (CHCS) will be holding a webinar on October 17, 2019,
from 11:00 am-12:00 pm on “Catalyzing Medicaid-Public Health Collaboration to
Achieve Mutual Prevention Goals: Lessons from CDC’s 6|18 Initiative.” The
webinar will detail the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC)
initiative to provide a practical framework to guide Medicaid-public health
collaborations, including a set of concrete, evidence-based prevention
interventions that improve health and control costs. The webinar is funded by
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Registration is available here.
The Center for
Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) is launching the “Improving Asthma Control
Learning Collaborative” (Learning Collaborative) to support state Medicaid and
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) agency efforts to improve health
outcomes among beneficiaries with asthma. The first of a four-part webinar
series, titled “The Role of Medicaid and CHIP in Improving Asthma Control,”
will be held on October 22, 2019, from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm. The webinar will
feature presentations from experts in the field, as well as tools state and
local agencies can use to drive improvements in asthma control and outcomes.
Registration for the webinar is available here.