The Mercury News: Legislative Committee To Take Up California’s Right-To-Die Law 
A California legislative committee on end of life health care is reaching out to patients’ families, doctors, hospice caregivers and health care systems Wednesday morning at the state capitol to discuss their experience so far with the state’s right-to-die law that went into effect in June 2016. Signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in October 2015, the End of Life Option Act allows any mentally competent California adult, diagnosed with less than six months to live, to end their life with a lethal drug prescription from their physician. Brown’s signature concluded a 23-year effort to pass the law in a state of almost 40 million, and its implementation has been closely watched throughout the Golden State and nation. (Seipel, 1/24)

In other news from Sacramento —

NPR: Abortion Pills: California Senate Bill Requires On-Campus Access
In California, the state Senate is considering legislation that would ensure that students at four-year public universities in California have access on campus to medication for abortions. Sen. Connie Leyva introduced the bill, SB 320, in February 2017. It would require all health centers within the University of California and California State University systems to stock the drugs prescribed for medication abortion and ready their campus health clinics to provide them by 2022. (Wilhelm, 1/23)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: County Ends Local Health Hepatitis A Emergency 
Nearly five months after it started, San Diego’s hepatitis A emergency is over. In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors ended the emergency status for an outbreak that killed 20 people, sickened 577 and spurred local leaders to take unified action on homelessness, a problem that had long been simmering on city streets. After peaking in the summer, there have been no new cases in the last four weeks and only four suspected cases remain under investigation. (Sisson, 1/23)

In other news from across the state —

KPCC: A New Computer Algorithm Could Help Child Protection Agencies
For workers at child protection agencies, deciding whether or not to check on a family that's been reported for possible abuse is complicated. Emily Putnam-Hornstein, an associate professor at the University of Southern California's school of social work, is one of the creators of a new tool to help in these situations. (Henderson, 1/23)

Los Angeles Times: Military Families Bolster The Case That Obesity Is Indeed Contagious
Members of the military serve their country in myriad ways. That includes helping researchers figure out whether obesity is a contagious disease. A new study involving thousands of military families suggests that the answer is yes. The idea that fatness can spread like chicken pox or the flu may sound downright crazy. But how else do you explain the fact that families assigned to Army bases in communities with higher rates of obesity were more likely to be overweight or obese compared with families sent to bases where excess pounds were less common? (Kaplan, 1/23)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: Less Smartphone Time Equals Happier Teenager, Study Suggests
A precipitous drop in the happiness, self-esteem and life satisfaction of American teens came as their ownership of smartphones rocketed from zero to 73% and they devoted an increasing share of their time online. Coincidence? New research suggests it is not. (Healy, 1/23)

The Cannifornian: Medical Marijuana Patient Barred From Volunteering To Care For Hospice Patients
Federal law still classifies cannabis as a Schedule I narcotic, a category reserved for drugs such as heroin that are said to be highly addictive and have no medical value. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been doubling down on that stance, even though polls show a record-high number of Americans now believe marijuana should be legal, 29 states permit medical marijuana and nine states plus Washington, D.C. allow recreational use. For cannabis consumers, the ongoing conflict with federal law can impact everything from gun ownership rights to employment opportunities. (Edwards Staggs, 1/23)

In other marijuana news —

Orange County Register: Irvine To Allow Pot Testing As It Becomes 3rd Orange County City To OK Marijuana Businesses 
Irvine will become the third city in Orange County to allow marijuana businesses, following Santa Ana and Costa Mesa. The City Council on Tuesday, Jan 23, voted 4-0 to amend its zoning ordinance to allow marijuana testing laboratories in industrial, medical and science districts. Councilwoman Lynn Schott was absent. (Shimura, 1/23)

Orange County Register: 2 Marijuana Dispensaries Raided By Santa Ana Police, Code Officials
Sky High Holistic, a medical-marijuana dispensary that gained national attention after Santa Ana police officers were caught on video there during a 2015 raid eating snacks and making fun of a disabled woman, along with the nearby Elevated Dreams Collective, were closed by city officials Tuesday morning, Jan. 23. Sky High and Elevated Dreams, in the same strip mall in the 400 block of West 17th Street, have been raided and closed multiple times as part of the city’s efforts to crack down on illegal marijuana shops. (Fausto and Schwebke, 1/23)

The Hill: Short-Term Spending Bills Leave Public Health Agencies In Suspense
Congress’s inability to pass a long-term spending bill has major ramifications for public health, advocates and former agency officials warn. The short-term measures hinder efforts to play ahead and recruit staff even as they keep the government open, the advocates say. They have left public health agencies “treading water,” said Ellie Dehoney, vice president of policy and advocacy at Research!America. “It’s just a state of suspended animation.” (Weixel and Roubein, 1/24)

The Hill: Community Health Centers Await Funding That Expired Months Ago 
While Congress on Monday extended the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years, more than 1,000 community health centers around the country are still waiting for the government to take action on their own funding. Both programs expired at the end of September, but only CHIP was funded in the short-term spending bill signed by President Trump. (Hellmann, 1/23)

The Hill: Neighborhood Health Clinics Popular With Veterans Face Crisis As Federal Funding Evaporates
Kymberly Grafton winces with every step she takes, the lingering burden from a training accident and car crash. And the disabled Navy reservist’s pain may soon be compounded by a budget battle on Capitol Hill that threatens her neighborhood health center. Grafton is one of 300,000 low-income veterans who receive health care at community health centers nationwide. She gets regular treatment at Unity Health Center near her home in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood, allowing her to skip a miles-long trek to the nearest hospital. (Spann, 1/24)

NPR: CHIP Deal Brings Relief
When parts of the federal government ground to halt this past weekend, Linda Nablo, who oversees the Children's Health Insurance Program in Virginia, had two letters drafted and ready to go out to the families of 68,000 children insured through the program, depending on what happened. One said the federal government had failed to extend CHIP after funding expired in September and the stopgap funding had run out. The program would be shutting down and families would lose their insurance. (Simmons-Duffin, 1/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Health-Care Costs Rose For Americans With Employer-Sponsored Insurance
Spending on health care accelerated in 2016 for Americans who get insurance through work, even as use of most health-care services declined or remained flat. The reason, according to a new report: price increases. Rising prices for prescription drugs, surgery, emergency-room visits and other services drove a 4.6% increase in total spending per person, versus 4.1% in 2015 and less than 3% in the two previous years, according to the research nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute, which analyzed data for nearly 40 million people up to age 65 with employer-sponsored insurance. (Whalen, 1/23)

In other national health care news —

The Associated Press: Work Requirements May Prompt More States To Expand Medicaid
In an ironic twist, the Trump administration's embrace of work requirements for low-income people on Medicaid is prompting lawmakers in some conservative states to resurrect plans to expand health care for the poor. Trump's move has been widely criticized as threatening the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. But if states follow through, more Americans could get coverage. (1/24)

The Washington Post: Bernie Sanders Talks Universal Medicare, And 1.1 Million People Click To Watch Him
With more than one million people watching at home, and hundreds watching from the studio audience, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leaned across his desk with a crucial health-care question. “What’s the quality of the Norwegian system?” Sanders asked Meetali Kakadi, an Oslo-based health researcher. “Is it good?” In her view, it was: “Far better than Canada.” (Weigel, 1/24)

Stat: Pharma Is Urged To Do More To Thwart The Superbug Crisis
As public health officials continue to lament a dearth of antibiotics, a new report finds some drug makers are making strides in developing medicines to combat superbugs, but that the pharmaceutical industry, in general, needs to do more. Overall, more companies are addressing R&D priorities, particularly the development of new antimicrobial drugs, but remain less active in bolstering manufacturing or sufficiently widening access, according to the report from the Access to Medicines Foundation, a non-profit based in the Netherlands, that regularly compiles indices to rank the progress made by drug companies on various matters. (Silverman, 1/23)

The New York Times: Vaping Can Be Addictive And May Lure Teenagers To Smoking, Science Panel Concludes
A national panel of public health experts concluded in a report released on Tuesday that vaping with e-cigarettes that contain nicotine can be addictive and that teenagers who use the devices may be at higher risk of smoking. Whether teenage use of e-cigarettes leads to conventional smoking has been intensely debated in the United States and elsewhere. While the industry argues that vaping is not a steppingstone to conventional cigarettes or addiction, some antismoking advocates contend that young people become hooked on nicotine, and are enticed to use cancer-causing tobacco-based cigarettes over time. (Kaplan, 1/23)