Health Care Legislation Enacted, Vetoed
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Thursday signed nine health care-related measures and vetoed seven (Office of the Governor release, 9/28). Descriptions of the bills are provided below.
Signed
The governor signed the bills listed below.
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SB 676, by Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield), will permit the Department of Health Services to offer per diem or bundled reimbursements for pharmacies that provide home infusion therapies or supplies (Bill text, 8/29).
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SB 739, by Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough), will require DHS and general acute care hospitals to adopt disease surveillance protocols and measures to prevent hospital-acquired infections. The law also creates the Hospital Infectious Disease Control Program (Bill text, 8/31).
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SB 1248, by Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose), will expand to all nursing home residents certain rights currently guaranteed only for Medicare or Medi-Cal beneficiaries (Bill text, 8/22).
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SB 1670, by Sen. Sam Aanestad (R-Nevada City), will require schools for radiologic technologists to include 20 hours of coursework on digital radiography and will require radiologic technologists who operate digital radiography equipment to complete continuing education courses on digital radiography (Bill text, 8/31).
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AB 530, by Assembly member George Plescia (R-San Diego), will require DHS to develop a process that allows Medi-Cal providers to meet with department officials and discuss the situation in the event DHS issues a temporary withholding of Medi-cal payments or suspension from the program (Bill text, 8/29).
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AB 699, by Assembly member Wilma Chan (D-Oakland), will require manufacturers or distributors of the influenza vaccine to provide information about its vaccine supply to DHS. The law also will apply to not-for-profit health plans that contract with a single medical group (Bill text, 8/30).
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AB 2740, by Assembly member Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles), permits the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to form a task force to draft a master plan for providing health care services in the county (Office of the Governor release, 9/27).
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AB 2805, by Assembly member Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo), will establish that electronic advanced health care directives or health care power of attorney documents will be "legally sufficient" if the documents meet the standards of the traditional documents. The law will take effect immediately.
- AB 2837, by Assembly member Joe Baca (D-San Bernardino), will amend requirements for speech pathologist certification, as a precursor to qualifying for Medi-Cal reimbursement. The law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to establish "clear credentials" in speech-language pathology by Jan. 1, 2007 (Bill text, 8/29).
Vetoes
Bills Schwarzenegger vetoed on Thursday are listed below.
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SB 1220, by Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), would have required DHS to develop a bulk-purchasing program for influenza vaccine for small physician practices (Bill text, 8/29).
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SB 1223, by Sen. Jack Scott (D-Pasadena), would have required health insurers to cover as much as $1,000 of the cost of hearings aids for members younger than age 18 (Bill text, 8/29).
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SB 1353, by Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), would have permitted physicians certified by the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California to undergo expedited enrollment as Medi-Cal providers. The bill also would have allowed Medi-Cal providers to submit a new change of location form, rather than a complete application, to continue participation in Medi-Cal if they move within the same county (Bill text, 8/30).
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SB 1398, by Sen. Wes Chesbro (D-Santa Rosa), would have barred DHS from adopting or maintaining reimbursement rates for Medi-Cal managed care plans below a certain level without consulting with the Department of Managed Health Care (Bill text, 8/30).
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SB 1427, by Chesbro, would have allowed federally qualified health centers to bill Medi-Cal for some services, if federal participation could be secured (Bill text, 8/29).
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AB 264, by Chan, would have required health plans to cover the cost of outpatient training programs for medications and devices to treat pediatric asthma (Bill text, 8/24).
- AB 2308, by Plescia, would have established a workgroup to draft licensing criteria for ambulatory surgery centers and would have reclassified surgical clinics as ASCs (Bill text, 8/31).