Bill Text: CA SB744 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 744 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Communicable diseases: respiratory disease information.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-08-26 - August 26 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. [SB744 Detail]

Download: California-2021-SB744-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly July 14, 2021

Amended IN Assembly June 24, 2021

Amended IN Senate May 20, 2021

Amended IN Senate April 29, 2021

Amended IN Senate April 22, 2021

Amended IN Senate April 05, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 744

Introduced by Senator Glazer
(Coauthors: Senators Caballero and Wilk)
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Wood)

February 19, 2021

An act to add Chapter 3.75 (commencing with Section 120265) to Part 1 of Division 105 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public health.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 744, as amended, Glazer. Communicable diseases: respiratory disease information.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and sets forth its powers and duties, including the administration of provisions relating to the prevention and control of communicable diseases. Existing regulations require certain communicable diseases to be reported to local health officers by health providers, using a uniform Confidential Morbidity Report (CMR).

Existing law, the Information Practices Act of 1977, regulates the collection and disclosure of personal information regarding individuals by state agencies, except as specified. Under existing law, a person who willfully requests or obtains a record containing personal information from an agency under false pretenses or a person who intentionally discloses medical, psychiatric, or psychological information held by an agency is guilty of a misdemeanor.

This bill would require the department to create a program to provide expedited release, during a declared public health emergency, of specified health care data to researchers at a bona fide research institution of higher education, as defined. The bill would require the department to make the specified data available promptly, and on an ongoing basis, only to qualified researchers who sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the department agreeing to use the data only for public health research purposes, to not disclose it to any other party, and to keep all personal information confidential. The bill would require each individual researcher who accesses or obtains nonpublic personal data through the program to sign an MOU, and would make a violation of the MOU a misdemeanor under the Information Practices Act of 1977. Because a willful violation of an MOU would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department, within one business day of agreeing to an MOU, to publish the MOU in full and make it available, along with specified information, to the general public on its internet website. The bill would require the program to create a special Institutional Review Board to review requests submitted under the program and would require the program to approve or reject the requests within 15 days of receiving a completed application.

This bill would also require that any report of a communicable respiratory disease by a health care provider to a local health officer and any electronic tool used by a local health officer for the purposes of reporting cases of a communicable respiratory disease include information on the type of housing where the patient resides, the number of people in the patient’s household, the occupation and workplace of the patient, and a relevant travel history based on the disease course. The bill would make implementation of its provisions subject to an appropriation by the Legislature. To the extent that this bill would increase the duties of local health officers, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Chapter 3.75 (commencing with Section 120265) is added to Part 1 of Division 105 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

CHAPTER 3.75. Communicable Respiratory Disease Information

120265.

(a) An electronic tool used by a local health officer, as defined by subdivision (a) of Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, for the purpose of reporting cases of communicable respiratory disease to the State Department of Public Health, as required by Sections 2500 and 2502 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, shall include the capacity to collect and report data relating to all of the following:

(1) The type of housing where the patient resides.

(2) The number of people in the household where the patient resides.

(3) The occupation and workplace of the patient.

(4) A relevant travel history based on the disease course.

(b) In addition to the information required to be reported pursuant to Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, a health care provider, as defined by subdivision (a) of Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, that knows of, or is in attendance on, a case or suspected case of any of the communicable respiratory diseases or conditions listed in subdivision (j) of Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations shall report to the local health officer for the jurisdiction where the patient resides, all of the ~~following:~~ following, if known:

(1) The type of housing where the patient resides.

(2) The number of people in the household where the patient resides.

(3) The occupation and workplace of the patient.

(4) A relevant travel history based on the disease course.

120265.1.

(a) (1) The department shall create a program to provide expedited release, during a declared public health emergency, of health care data, including from Confidential Morbidity Reports and contact tracing reports, to researchers at a bona fide research institution of higher education. The department shall make the data available promptly, and on an ongoing basis, only to qualified researchers who sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the department agreeing to use the data only for public health research purposes, to not disclose it to any other party, and to keep all personal information confidential.

(2) The program shall create a special Institutional Review Board to review requests submitted under paragraph (1) and to approve or reject the requests within 15 days of receiving a completed application.

(3) In order to protect the personal privacy of individuals, and to promote holding recipients of personal information fully and legally accountable for individuals’ privacy, each MOU shall be published in full and available to the general public on the department’s internet website within 1 business day of the department agreeing to it, and shall identify each institution that receives personal information under that MOU, including the names and institutional affiliations of the principal investigators who are conducting the research and a copy of the actual research proposal for which the department entered into the MOU.

(4) A person who accesses or obtains nonpublic personal data shall sign an MOU. Violation of an MOU shall be considered a violation of Section 1798.56 of the Civil Code and, if applicable, Section 1798.57 of the Civil Code.

(b) For purposes of this section, a “bona fide research institution of higher education” means a campus of the University of California or independent institutions of higher education, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 66010 of the Education Code, that offer postgraduate degrees in public health.

(c) The department shall implement this chapter only upon an appropriation by the Legislature for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute.

(d) This section shall not alter or reduce the obligations of the department under Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1798) of Title 1.8 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code, including, but not limited to, subdivision (t) of Section 1798.24.

(e) This section shall not authorize the release of these records to researchers by a local health department or any entity other than the State Department of Public Health.

SEC. 2.

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution for certain costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district because, in that regard, this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.

However, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains other costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.