Session closed but work continues

The regular legislative ses­sion ended on August 31st – and a first extraordinary session was opened. The regular new legislative session will begin De­cember 2nd, after the November election. This session a number of important bills impacting public health/safety came before the Assembly Health Commit­tee, where I serve as Vice Chair.

Among these are AB 1233, a bill I introduced to help deal with the epidemic of overdose deaths sweeping the state. The bill will help ensure that each tribal nation in California has naloxone hydrochloride or an­other opioid antagonist avail­able to prevent overdose deaths. I also joined Senator Kelly Sey­arto of Murrieta as a co-author for SB 67, which requires coro­ners to report overdose deaths to the National Overdose Detec­tion Mapping Application Pro­gram, a tool that enhances local efforts to mobilize an immediate response when overdose deaths suddenly spike. I also sup­ported SB 1320 (Senator Aisha Wahab) which requires health care plans to reimburse medical providers who treat substance use disorders when treatments are integrated into primary care services. I’m happy to report that all three bills have been signed into law by the Governor.

As of this writing, bills still awaiting the Governor’s sig­nature include AB 2081 (As­semblymember Laurie Davies) which requires operators of licensed alcoholism and drug abuse recovery facilities to in­form customers/patients that any possible violations by the facility can be checked on the Department of Health Care Ser­vices website. Another bill, AB 1936 (Assemblymember Sabri­na Cervantes) requires health care plans to provide at least one maternal mental health screening during pregnancy, and another during the first six weeks of the postpartum pe­riod. I also supported AB 2467 (Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan) which requires healthcare plans to cover medi­cally necessary treatments for premenopause and menopause.

These are just a few of the healthcare-related bills that passed with overwhelming bi­partisan support this session. The Governor will have until September 30th to sign or veto all legislation received prior to adjournment.

Assemblymember Marie Wal­dron, R- Valley Center, repre­sents the 75th Assembly Dis­trict in the California Legisla­ture, which includes the cities of Poway, Santee, portions of the City of San Diego, and most of rural eastern and northern San Diego County.