Bill Text: CA AB2279 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Childhood lead poisoning prevention.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2020-06-23 - Referred to Com. on HEALTH. [AB2279 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB2279-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
May 12, 2020 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2279
| Introduced by Assembly Members Cristina Garcia, Quirk, Reyes, and Salas (Principal coauthor: Senator Leyva) |
February 14, 2020 |
An act to amend Section 105285 of, and to add Section 105301 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to public health.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2279, as amended, Cristina Garcia.
Childhood lead poisoning prevention.
(1) Existing law, the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act of 1991, establishes the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (Program), which is administered by the State Department of Public Health.
Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations establishing a standard of care, at least as stringent as the most recent federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention screening guidelines. Existing law provides that the standard of care shall require a child who is determined to be at risk for lead poisoning to be screened. Existing law requires the regulations to include the determination of specified risk factors, including a child’s time spent in a home, school, or building built before 1978. Existing law requires the department to develop the regulations, in consultation with specified individuals,
including medical experts, and environmental experts, and to develop the regulations by July 1, 2019.
This bill would add several risk factors to be considered as part of the standard of care specified in regulations, including a child’s residency in or visit to a foreign country, or their residency in a high-risk ZIP Code, and would require the department to develop, by January 1, 2021, the regulations on the additional risk factors, in consultation with the above-specified individuals.
(2) Existing law requires the department to ensure appropriate case management for children who have been identified with lead poisoning, and authorizes the department to contract with any public or private entity, including any local agency, to perform that duty.
This bill would require the department to update its formula for allocating funds to any
local agency that contracts with the department to administer the Program, and to revise funding allocations before each contract cycle.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 105285 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:105285.
(a) It is the goal of the state that all children at risk of lead exposure receive blood lead screening tests.(b) (1) The department shall adopt regulations establishing a standard of care, at least as stringent as the most recent federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention screening guidelines, whereby all children are evaluated for risk of lead poisoning by health care providers during each child’s periodic health assessment. The regulations shall meet the goals of subdivision (a) and shall include the determination of risk factors for whether a child is “at risk.”
(2) When determining the risk
factors, the department shall consider the most significant environmental risk factors, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) A child’s time spent in a home, school, or building built before 1978.
(B) A child’s proximity to a former lead or steel smelter or an industrial facility that historically emitted or currently emits lead.
(C) A child’s proximity to a freeway or heavily traveled
roadway.
(D) Other potential risk factors for lead exposure, and known sources of lead contamination.
(E) A child’s residency in or visit to a foreign country.
(F) A child’s residency in a high-risk ZIP Code.
(G) A child who has a sibling or playmate with lead poisoning.
(H) The likelihood of a child placing nonfood items in the mouth.
(I) A child’s proximity to current or former lead-producing facilities.
(J) The likelihood of a child using food, medicine, or dishes from
other countries.
(3) (A) By July 1, 2019, the regulations on the specified factors in subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of paragraph (2) shall be developed in consultation with medical experts, environmental experts, appropriate professional organizations, the public, and others as determined by the department.
(B) By January 1, 2021, the regulations on the specified factors in subparagraphs (E) to (J), inclusive, of paragraph (2) shall be developed in consultation with the individuals identified in subparagraph (A).
(c) The standard of care shall require a child who is determined to be “at risk” for lead poisoning, according to the regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (b), to be
screened.
(d) The standard of care shall provide that a child shall not be screened pursuant to this chapter if the parent or guardian of the child refuses to consent to the screening.
(e) The standard of care shall provide that health care providers are responsible only for evaluation of all children, for screening of children determined to be at risk, and for medically necessary followup services.
(f) The fee imposed by Section 105310 shall not be used to fund blood lead screening under this section.
SEC. 2.
Section 105301 is added to the Health and Safety Code, immediately following Section 105300, to read:105301.
(a) To ensure that funds are allocated to each local agency equitably and commensurate with the level of services needed to provide to children(b) For purposes of this section, “diagnosed with lead poisoning” means that a child has been diagnosed with a one-time blood lead level of 9.5 μg/dL (persistent) or
14.5 (one-time)-45 μg/dL. “elevated blood levels” means a blood lead level that is no higher than the blood lead reference value as specified in the most recent guidelines issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
