Legislature Adjourns for Summer Recess
The Legislature has officially adjourned for its one-month summer recess, concluding a steady week of policy committee hearings and legislative actions. Much of the focus this week was on the Legislature’s bipartisan passage of major climate change policy which extended the state’s cap-and-trade program to 2030, with concessions made for continued tax exemptions and an affordable housing package to be fleshed out after recess. Despite climate change policy taking the main stage, policy committees arrived at today’s deadline to meet and take action on remaining non-fiscal bills, resulting in a significant number of measures becoming two year bills.
Below, we highlight several bills of interest to CHEAC Members. Our full bill chart for this week is available here.
Drug & Alcohol Services
AB 40 (Santiago) as amended 7/10/17 – Support
Assembly Member Miguel Santiago’s AB 40 was advanced from the Senate Judiciary Committee to the Senate Appropriations Committee this week. The measure would allow the CURES database to integrate with other health information technology systems and permit health practitioners and pharmacists to access the database. CHEAC supports this measure as a modest, but important strategy in addressing the complicated and rising opioid epidemic in California.
AB 182 (Waldron) as amended 5/26/17 – Watch
AB 182 by Assembly Member Marie Waldron was heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee this week where it was placed on the Suspense File. The measure establishes the Heroin and Opioid Public Education (HOPE) Act to require the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to develop a comprehensive and multicultural public education program to address the rising heroin and opioid epidemic upon appropriation of the Legislature or receipt of grant funding.
Health Coverage
SB 323 (Mitchell) as amended 4/25/17 – Support
SB 323 by Senator Holly Mitchell was placed on the Assembly Appropriations Suspense File this week. The measure would allow federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and rural health centers (RHCs) to have Drug Medi-Cal, specialty health services, and specialty mental health services reimbursed as contracted with the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) or a county.
Tobacco
SB 386 (Glazer) as amended 7/13/17 – Support
Senator Steven Glazer’s SB 386 was placed on the Assembly Appropriations Suspense File this week. The measure would ban all smoking (including e-cigarettes) and cigar and cigarette waste at state coastal beaches, state parks, public campgrounds, monument sites, landmark sites, and sites of historical interest. The state director of parks and recreation is permitted to exempt certain areas of state parks from the ban, and the ban does not apply to Native American ceremonial activities.