GRAY DAVIS: Governor Signs Health Care Legislation
Gov. Gray Davis (D) has been busy signing legislation passed during the flurry of activity prior to the end of the Legislature's session two weeks ago. Some of the health-related measures Davis recently approved include:
- AB 48: Sponsored by Assembly member Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), the bill expands the definition of cancer in the California Cancer Registry statute to include primary intracranial and central nervous system tumors occurring in specified sites, and renames the registry as the Ken Maddy California Cancer Registry (Office of the Governor release, 9/12).
- AB 751: Sponsored by Assembly member Martin Gallegos (D-Baldwin Park), the bill defines as a misdemeanor the providing of a substance purported to be a prescription drug or device by a non-licensed pharmacist or medical professional, in an effort to protect the public against dangerous, non-authentic drugs and devices, and avoid the need for a laboratory test to prove the crime of unlicensed pharmacy (Office of the Governor release, 9/12).
- AB 1881: Sponsored by Gallegos, the bill allows an "outpatient mentally disordered offender" to waive the annual trial on his or her continued involuntary treatment and clarifies when time is credited toward commitment terms (Office of the Governor release, 9/8).
- AB 1975: Sponsored by Assembly member Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), the bill extends to three years the maximum duration for a waiver from Department of Health Services' licensure requirements for psychologists employed in state or government health facilities (Office of the Governor release, 9/12).
- AB 2185: Sponsored by Gallegos, the bill establishes the Newborn Eye Pathology Screening Task Force and requires the State Department of Health Services to adopt a protocol for detecting the presence of treatable causes of blindness in infants two months of age (Office of the Governor release, 9/8).
- AB 2285: Sponsored by Assembly member Dean Florez (D-Shafter), the bill allows public or private not-for-profit corporations that operate a rehabilitation facility for either a regional center for the developmentally disabled or for the State Department of Rehabilitation to be included in the definition of "contracting agency" eligible to contract with the Public Employees' Retirements System for retirement and health benefits coverage for its employees (Office of the Governor release, 9/12).
- AB 2516: Sponsored by Assembly member Helen Thomson (D-Davis), the bill expands participation in the Registered Nurse Education Program to students who agree in writing, prior to graduation, to serve in a state-operated health facility meeting Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development criteria.
- AB 2714: Sponsored by Assembly member Herb Wesson (D-Los Angeles), the bill extends the "sunset date" for the provision of law allowing blood banks to compensate donors for platelets collected from Dec. 31, 2000, until Jan. 1, 2003, to ensure an all-voluntary system and require the Department of Health Services to monitor the hemapheresis supply and distribution.
- SB 195: Sponsored by Sen. Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata), the bill allows health plans operating in more than one county but not statewide to have more than one geographic region for purposes of determining rates for small employers (Office of the Governor release, 9/12).